Take to the skies
by R4yR4y
Summary: Stories arose from all across the archipelago, it's not just any day that a chief sets a bounty on his own daughter. One night she just took a airship and sailed off, now she's not only hunted by almost every man and woman looking for some quick cash, but also one of the first privateers of the skies. Fem!Hiccup; Steam-/ Dieselpunk AU
1. Prologue

It was raining, again. As water was pouring from the heavens, wetting the streets and the few unlucky people that caught outside at this late hour in this weather, a figure walked down the streets. A hooded figure to be exact, rather tall, wearing a brown leather raincoat. The raincoat was closed using a grey leather belt. The figure walked down the endless streets of Hopeless unnoticed by the few remaining outside. It wasn't uncommon to have strange people walking here, Hopeless was after all, the most sought out place for criminals, as the village was owned by a mayor steel industry. This made sure there were plenty of jobs, and few helpful people to make sure that working hours were humane, it was perfect.

As the figure continues down the street, she stops at a corner building nearby the town center. She looks up to look at the message the sign had to say. The sign was a small round shield, suspended by weather worn ropes, 'The Squeaky cog, Distillery and Inn.' It said with a large painting of a copper gear on the back. As a flash of lightning hit, we see the bottom half of our subjects face, a small grin was plastered and there was a small cut on the chin of this person, next to her face we could see a long brown hair, tied into two braids, sliding down the side of, presumably her, neck.

She walked into the Inn and was greeted by a warm air of sweat, booze, and coal stoked machinery. The tables in this place were worn, just like every other piece of furniture. As she walked down the small Inn she carefully looked around her, she didn't notice anything out of the ordinary, there were 4 man playing music to lighten the mood on such a dark rainy day, everywhere she looked she saw, slumped down sailors, probably passed out due to the amount of alcohol, or worn out workers, done with their 6 day week of slaving away in the factory from sunrise to dawn. Two city guards, wearing comfterble steel plate armor were sitting somewhere in the middle, talking about when and where the next dragon raid would be.

She passed through the crowd and ordered a gobbled of ale at the bar, she left some copper coins as payment and sat down in the corner of the Inn, still scanning her surroundings. It was noisy in the Inn, a good sign, when people are quiet something bad is going on, like guards looking for a certain vigilante or said vigilante being spotted by some random worker, so far, everything was perfect.

Her attention what quickly drawn away when she noticed that the band was switching songs, this song she knew all too well, as for she knew that listening to it, would only bring her good. It told her if they were any further with finding her, forcing her back to that forsaken hellhole called Berk.

As the music picked up, she heard the first line roll out of the second man of the small band.

_Take to the skies me hearties me hearties_

_Take to the skies, to the white aboves_

_Take to the skies me hearties me hearties_

_Look for her no more her loves_

_She took to the skies me hearties me hearties_

_She took to the skies, fled her own fate_

_She took to the skies, me hearties me hearties_

_Sadly enough they were trapped by her bait_

_Take to the skies, me hearties me hearties_

_Take to the skies, to search for berks heir_

_Take to the skies me hearties me hearties_

_The freedom, the glory, nothing compares_

_She took to the skies me hearties me hearties_

_She took to the skies in her ship so strong_

_She took to the skies me hearties me hearties_

_With her companion she'll never go wrong_

_They travels the skies, me hearties me hearties,_

_They travels the sky, some captains their fodder_

_They travels the skies, me hearties me hearties_

_The chief of Berk he hunts for his daughter_

_Take to the skies, me hearties me hearties_

_Take to the skies, the hunt for berks heir_

_Take to the skies me hearties me hearties_

_The freedom, the glory, nothing compares_

_They fight in the skies me hearties me hearties_

_They fight in the skies, they blast down those curse_

_They fight in the skies me hearties me hearties_

_He looks at an airship, his minds set on her._

_Take to the skies me hearties me hearties, _

_Take to the skies, to this tale ya old hark_

_Take to the skies, me hearties me hearties_

_A new fire burns it take but a spark_

_She looks to the skies, me hearties me hearties_

_She looks to the skies, her dragon acts odd_

_She looks to the skies me hearties me hearties_

_What will she need to fulfill her heart_

_She roams in the skies me hearties me hearties_

_She roams in the skies, for a grave price she paid_

_She roams in the skies me hearties me hearties_

_She'd did all she could but then he spots her shade._

_The call of the skies me hearties me hearties_

_The call of the skies to there shall he rise_

_The call of the skies me hearties me hearties_

_To chase down their heir they take to the skies_

_Follow them to the skies me hearties me hearties_

_Follow them to the skies her cruel fate have they heard_

_Follow them to the skies, me hearties me hearties_

_The devil at her side, she'll see them burn_

_Take to the skies for king or for country_

_Take to the skies for passion fame_

_Take to the skies for freedom or glory_

_No matter the reason it amounts to the same_

_Take to the skies me hearties me hearties _

_Take to the skies the hunt for berks heir_

_Take to the skies me hearties me hearties_

_The freedom the glory nothing compares_

As the story was finished she had all her machines working up in that grey mass of her. "_She'd did all she could but then he spots her shade." _It couldn't be, did they find her? Did they take to the skies as well_? '_Shit_' _She thought_. '_Now we'll be on the run again. Time to inform the crew._' _She quickly stood up and Hurried out of the Inn, pushing the drunk sailors out of her way. She had no time for them. The song must have been updated a few days ago, they had only anchored near Hopeless for a few hours, so it couldn't be about that. As fast and quietly as she could she ran towards the docks, not the water based ones, no. Those were called the port in this age, the docks were for the newer version of transport, based on a high cliff she found them, together with the bay. All around her were ships, ranging from small spotting balloons, to humorous flouting fortresses capable of taking out entire fleets, she glanced through the dimly lit industrial area, she knew she'd spotted her ride as she saw a pair of Emerald green eyes looking back at her. Sadly enough they were on the top of a large hangar. She grabbed a grappling hook from her satchel and threw it onto the roof of the hanger, the metal made a loud noise as it hit the steel armored roof of the warehouse. She quickly scaled the wall as she heard staff coming out off the hangar, when she reached the top she pulled the last part of rope after her quickly, before stuffing it, and the hook, back in her satchel.

"Why won't you ever make it easy on me?" She silently scolded the dragon. The beast looked at her with an amused smirk before bowing down to let her on its back, she pulled off one of her boots revealing a strange contraption consisting of wood and stone, which was replacing the lower part of her left leg. She turned a wooden ring that was at the base of the contraption 180 degrees, making the metal leg slide in and a metal hook come out, She then attached this hook to some other metal mechanism build into the creatures saddle. "Okay bud, ready to go." She told the dragon silently. The beast crouched and spread his wings, he jumped into the air with all its force and quickly maneuvered out off the industrial area.

"Hurry back to the ship Toothless, they're on our track." She told the dragon.

Toothless responded with a approving grumble as he quickened their pace. Together they disappeared into the night sky, like they had done many times before.

**AN:**

**Hello everyone, this is just the beginning of what I hope will be a awesome story. The shanty is made by Jacob Burgess , a great voice actor, I found this at the muse games YouTube channel, it's called 'Take to the skies (A Guns of Icarus Shanty)' I hope you like it, I altered it a bit to fit the story I'm thinking about.**

**To clear a them things up here are some facts about the story: **

**Hiccup will be female, I don't know if I'll call her Hiccup, Hicca, or something else, if you have suggestions, I'd love to hear them. She will be somewhere between 18 and 21 in this story.; **

**As you may have guessed this is going to be a steam-/ diesel-punk AU, so It'll contain thing like airships, FLAK cannons, rifled firearms and some other advances in technology, if this isn't your interest, I'm sorry. ; **

**I haven't decided if I'll gender bend other characters, if you have suggestions, please do tell, like if Fem!Hiccup's lover should be a OC or something. If you want your own OC in this story please send it in the reviews and I will try to add it, she will need her own crew, and I'm planning on making this story really detailed. ;**

**If you want to add your OC please list the following things:**

**Name, Gender, Occupation(I.E. : Engineer, Merchant, Gunner Etc.), Appearance (Really important please be as descriptive as you grey mass called brain will let you be :D ), Background, Relation towards other already excising people or other OC's, Dragon (This probably be reserved for Hicca/cups crew only, because this will take place in a time in a place where the war with dragons is still going on!), Any extra's maybe something like, likes or dislike, clothing, Special tools.**

**If you want to find my main source of inspiration for the whole steam-/dieselpunk things check out the Guns Of Icarus Wikia. Some equipment will be findable there. Also some of the weapons that will be mounted on the ship! You can also visit it to fuel you imagination, if you have ideas for the story please send it to me, I'll hope to be updating this every week but I'm not sure if I'm going to make that seeing as I'll be also busy with my other story.**

**Happy readings for future chapters and I'll see y'all around.**

**R4y**


	2. Chap 1 Meet Brynn

**AN:**

**Hey guys and girls just before I begin with this chapter I really want to stress the need for OC's, ideas and most off all a name for the female Hiccup. I don't know how long I can go without giving her a name. So here I am, second chapter, pleading anyone who feels like it, please send ideas and OC's all the other things can be found at the bottom of the first chapter.**

**Also please note that this chapter was made so fast because I need more reviews before I really can continue. Don't expect a chapter a day. I'm focusing on one or more doing a chapters a week.**

**Anyway, let's get going!**

The rain splattered loudly onto the deck of the ship, the wind howled through the ropes connecting the hull with the balloon. The crew was vast asleep in their hammocks, the entire ship was dark, and the only way someone would ever spot it was by the off chance that they recognizes the outline of the ship when Thor decided to release his lightning. The seas were restless, as was the night itself. The airship was anchored at the side of a cliff on a uninhabited deserted island. The only movement on the ship what the flickering of a oil lantern, vaguely illuminating the starboard engine.

When we approach the ship, differed noises start to slowly find their way through this accursed weather. As we approach the new found source of light even more, we hear the annoyed pleas of a young lady. She was wearing tick pants and a woolen overall, numerous tools were secured at her waist by a thick utility belt. "Curses, it's around here somewhere." She mutters to herself while she had one hand down into the main compartment of the engine, the steel sheet that would normally cover the maintenance latch lay at her ankles. "Good the rest is asleep, they wouldn't let me hear the end of this." The lass wouldn't give up so easily, determination could be seen deep in her brown eyes. She proceeds to stand on her toes as she reaches deeper into the engine. "Gotcha!" She says, as she lifts a small hammer out of the engine. "Thought you could get away, ya wee devil." She sais to the object. Suddenly she hears a strange chuckle from behind her. She turns around to notice that a Flightmare has taken the position behind her, not glowing anymore because it had been a while since the last time their favorite algae glew, and huge, smug smile plastered on its face.

"Oh no, you're not telling this to anyone!" She scolded the dragon. Which as an answer licked its lips. "What, now? We need to be guarding." She argued. The dragon cocked his head and looked at the engine with a straight face. "I'm preparing it, for, well, what if we need a quick escape." The dragon crooned, clearly noticing the discomfort in the girl. It walked towards her, curling around her as a protective dog. The young female sat down and put the hammer on her belt, before leaning against the dragon. "I'm sorry, it's just. Why does she want to go alone every time? What if something happens?" The Flightmare knew that this would be the time that her rider would go into ranting mode, throwing colorful words around the deck. "Like that time I warned her with the heat rounds, but she still managed to burn down half a forest." The woman sighted, letting her soaked brown locks fall over her shoulders. She reached for the small metal bottle of moonshine that she had on her belt, the captain was quite clear about drinking on the job, but it wasn't strange for a mechanic to have some on her. After all, who else would pour it into the engines when they needed a boost? She took a sip and screwed the metal cap back on the bottle, before placing it back in her belt. "I just don't get it Shriek."

Upon hearing its name, the dragon rose its head and looked at her rider, licking it's lips again. "Okay fine, you win, but only for a few minutes, they can't notice were missing." The dragon quickly stood up and warbled something happy, it knew very well that when her rider decided to go past the captains orders he had to not get too excited, in fear of waking the other crew. The rider quickly mounted her dragon before they silently took off. They quickly desended towards the seas below and her dragon shot it's paralyzing mist, stunning the fish who were swimming at the surface, they quickly tuned to slide down and let the dragon take a mouth full of fish.

The dragon had finished it's fish before they arrived back at the ship and found a nice place to rest near the exhaust of the main engine. Which still had some remnants of hot air coming out of it, since it was linked to the exhaust of the air pump keeping the balloon afloat. The rider, now absolutely soaked from the high waves this stormy evening, walked towards her little project, and set back to optimizing the engine. When she finished she grabbed the metal sheet, and quickly bolted it back to place. She then proceeded back to the other side of the ship to also improve the other steering engine, if one was more powerful than the other, they would get problems. She tightened the screws and bolts which were loosened by the vibration of the engines, which would make the engine lose some of their power.

When she finishing she put all her tools back after bolted the covering sheet back to place, she looked at her watch, her shift was almost over, then she could decide if she wanted to guard some more or if she was going to pull one of the others out of their hammock and shove the task into their hands. She already knew the answer to this, she would stay awake, ready to give her friend a big scolding about being late.

Her dragon was calmly resting on the exhaust when she stood up again. "How can I possibly rest when she could be doing gods knows what?" She asked her dragon, who merely opened one eye to look at her, before closing it and making herself comfortable again. "I swear to the gods, your skull can be bigger than that Nightfury of her!" She yelled to her dragon. A light went on in the crew quarters and a yell came from inside. "Brynn, if you don't shut up right now, I'm going to take the largest tool you I can find, and shove it" The rest she did not need to hear, as for she knew where this was going, while her sleep deprived crewmate continues ranting she passed a quick sorry towards the quarters, the crewmember quickly silenced, muttered a few words and got back to his well needed sleep, before she settling down next to her dragon again. Then she heard the roar of a all too familiar dragon, the Nightfury. She quickly hasted portside to look for said dragon.

The dragon landed gently on the deck of the ship, before Brynn could say anything, the rider got off and pulled her hood down, green eyes bore straight into brown.

"They're onto us"

**AN:**

**Well here it is! The second chapter, mainly a big meeting with the first if the crew members, Brynn Bloodbane, suggested by cjupsher, thanks, and I hope you like what I did with it. :D**

**Anyway, back to more important matters, I still need a few things If I wish to continue the story.**

**A NAME FOR THE FEMALE HICCUP! I'm really don't know what to do here, I find it strange to just call her Hiccup, but Hicca is like such a cliché in my opinion. I'd love to hear your thoughts.**

**MORE OC's! Be it enemies, crew, friends, anything, I can't really be picky, I really need some to continue with the stories, be as detailed as your brain allows you to be. :D**

**(I might alter some things.)**

**ASTRID! Will or won't she be genderbend, if I get enough reviews that show a clear liking towards one or the other it will be a lot easier for me.**

**NAMES! For side characters, for towns and cities, for guns and tools, for locations and sites. I like to see myself as creative, but I can help but fear that if I come up with all of these myself that a lot will be just the same, I already use one of the basic ones 'Hopeless' as a village, but I'm not planning on adding a lot of those.**

**If would love to hear all of your reviews and I look forward to anything you have to say. If you have criticism please do tell, it can only improve my works.**

**R4y**


	3. Chap 2 Reckless you say?

**AN :**

**Hey everyone, I was planning on introducing you to the two other crewmembers today, but I'm just going to do one per chapter, so that I can make it extra detailed and add a rich background if I manage to think of that, I will be continuing with the plot.**

The weather had been unforgiving the past week, today was yet another day that the skies had broke and unleashed their load onto the people on the planet. Raindrops bombard the street, creating a small rivers in the drainage, behind a window a young man was staring to the outside, he had blue eyes and gold blonde hair. He was a stranger in this place, for he was not from Hopeless. He was here on a mission, to return what was lost 5 years ago. And failure was not in his vocabulary. He was the first in a group of five, all from the same village, all burdened with the same task. He was sitting on a chair in a café, waiting for his tea. He was peering at the skies, those dam musicians ruined the plan, they were too slowly track her down, like hunting a rabbit, if they did something rash, or moved to fast, she would scurry like the wind, and that had just happened. The waitress slowly brought him his tea, which he gladly accepted. "You're not from round here are you boy." The woman said. The boy, who continued to stare out of the window, replied with. "No ma'm I've lost something that I would like to hold dear to me, yet I am in no position to say that."

Their chat was interrupted by the door of the café slamming open, in came a tall man, with a battle worn trench coat, he was about his age. The man had his trench coat open, and the strap and side of a satchel was visible from where he sat. A large leather strap was going from his shoulder toward his side, and behind him the front of a barrel could be seen sticking above his shoulder. His face was covered by a red scarf, which he had wrapped around his neck. The man looked like a veteran, but he was too young for that. He towards the table that was right next to his and sat down. As soon as he did a large man walked over to him. "Get out of here gunner, we don't take well to your kind here." The large man, a mechanic by the looks of it, said. "Go back to your little machines and let them fight for you!" At the table behind him 2 other man laughed, but their laughter quickly stopped when they saw their big friend stumbled backwards and crashed through their table. "Anyone else who has a problem with my presence?" The man asked. Everyone was quiet, and the 2 mechanics quickly helped their friend out of the café. The man sat down again, and everyone returned back to what they were doing.

"What was that about?" The young man asked. The waitress answered. "You can't put gunner with mechanics, the gunners can be quite civil, but mechanics just can't stand them." She pointed at the broken table. "He actually solved it quite peacefully, I've seen way worse fight than that." She gestured to the man who had his back to them. "If you're want to have a better chance at finding what you're looking for, I suggest you ask him, but watch out, I've heard of the lad there, he's very keen on his cause." The waitress left again to clean up the table that was lying shattered in the café.

He thought about it for a second, would this man be able to help him? The rest was currently looking for clues, and knowing them they would turn up empty handed. He decided it was worth a shot. grabbed his tea and walked over towards the table of the mysterious gunner and placed himself on the wooden chair on the other side of the table. The man spared him a quick glance and got back to his book, drawing something in it. "I don't help strangers, so I believe a introduction is an order." He spoke slowly and quietly. The 'stranger' as he was just called decided that it would be best to go with it as he didn't have any choice. "My name is Aster Hofferson, I hail from the isle of Berk, and I believe you can help we with finding something." Aster smiled as he saw the man close his book and place it back into his satchel. "And what kind of service did you think I can deliver lad?" The man spoke. "I am looking for a certain girl, she had brown hair and green eyes, about my age." Aster spoke. The man laughed a little. "This girl wouldn't happen to be the lost heir of Berk now would she?" He responded. "Yes, that would be her." Aster said. "Well I can't help your hunt mate, but I can advice you." Aster's eyes lit up as the man spoke this, maybe he knew where she was. "Give up, you can only find her if she wants you to find her." With this, Aster's heart shattered, maybe he was right, she had been gone for 5 years, she wouldn't be found. Sure they had an airship, but it was no match to what they heard of her.

But he wouldn't give up so easily. "I beg you, do you know anything of her." "Do you not know what 'Give up' means lad?" The asked in a silent but stern tone, which actually almost intimidated Aster. "I'm doing this for my home." He replied. "But I'm sure you know nothing of that." He regretted adding that last part as the man stood up and leaned over the table. "I know more about doing something for my home than you'll ever dare to know boy." With one hand the man lowered his scarf to reveal two long pink scars on his neck in the shape of a V. Aster now knew who she was talking to, this figure was more feared than he was known, stories arose of him 4 and a half years ago, when a battleship that was targeting a village suddenly sank. Tales arose about how it happened, and it seemed that a respected gunner of the ship had sabotaged blew the boilers after he got the order to shell the village. He stories say that when he was to be executed a few night later he was taken by a dragon in a raid. Afterwards he appeared here and there, always accompanied with lightning storms.

Aster forgot his mission for a while, the revealing of the scars took him by surprise. "I'm sorry, for saying that you didn't knew about fighting for your home." He said. "Apology accepted." The two remained quiet for a while, listening to the soft noise of the water hitting the window and the wind howling through the shutters in the town, but Aster decided that he'd have to try again. "So will you help me find her?" He noticed that the man's expression quickly faded from understanding to anger. He stood up and walked towards the door, as he opened it the loud noises of the storm outside reached into the café. "I'm telling you one more time lad, back off!" And then he left. "Shit!" Aster cursed, he had just let one of the best leads in a while get away, he drank the last bit of his tea and decided that he should return to their ship.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

A dark figure walked through the streets of Hopeless, how dare he, how dare he ask about her and then insult him, he might forgive but he won't forget. If that lad would ever give them trouble he'd drive a bullet into that grey mass of his. He saw how he realized who he was talking to, and then the stupid runt still thinks he can just squeeze the information out of him. Can't he realize how he would feel when he thinks about it, it's not something that you just shrug off as 'Not your finest moment'. No, the things he did would haunted him for his life, it cloaked him in a shroud of the past, he knew he wouldn't get much sleep tonight, for he would be visited by his parents, and they would come riding on nightmares. He recalls every single time that he'd woken up, sweating and panting, seeing it all again, ablaze. They would stand at his side, ready to help him, but if this was his burden, and that he would not share with anyone.

The brave story of 'Ray the reckless Roamer', quite a fitting name seeing as he currently roams the skies. Almost everyone knew the story, a farmer's boy joining the military, growing in rank quickly, a pristine soldier. He actually dove in front of his crewmates when a piece of flak exploded near them, gaining his V shaped scars. He joined the army with one cause, to help the people of the archipelago. He remembers latching out to his captain the night of his execution. "I've betrayed no one, the army betrayed those people!" He yelled, gaining a lot of commotion. He also remembers the strange thing that happened next, he was waiting for the executioner, who would perform the blood eagle on him, when he was lifted up into the skies. He was grabbed by a Skrill, of all dragons it had to be the most aggressive and deadly one, he noticed that the small island fort where he was held captive was being attacked by dragons.

After a while of flying the Skrill dropped him off on a sea stack. He scrambled on his feet and tried to run but he quickly noticed that the only way off was by jumping in the water, and from this height it was not advisable for your health. So he turned to the Skrill, who was sitting in front of him. "Nice dragon." He said, holding his tied hands in front of him as some sort of barrier between them. The Skrill walked towards him and opened his mouth. This is it, Ray thought, but when the razor sharp teeth merely cut through the rope. He rubbed his wrist and looked at the Skrill.

"Thanks lad." He said to the dragon, which responded with a loud and threatening hiss. "Lass, I get it, lass." He quickly corrected himself. They looked at each other, this was the beginning of something awesome. The next few months they spend training together, he had dubbed the female Skrill Blitz. They hunted together, flew together and at night, they raided ships of the military. Ray still had his trusted service dagger and gladly used this as a weapon. After some ships they found a officers revolver and a special rifle, equipped with a scope. He also took a small leather bound book, some pencils and a range finder. Together with a stylish trench coat and a leather satchel. He used a red scarf to cover his scars so that he wouldn't be recognized.

He eventually met up with Brynn Bloodbane, a old 'friend', they met each other in a bar, and to say that they had a argument was a understatement. 3 hours, 1 windows and a very 2 very bruised drunks later, They were both picked up and brought back to the airship by dragons, here he learned about Berks lost heir and how they sailed the skies with airship and dragon. So when they asked if he wanted to join, he immediately said yes.

But right now he was flying, and nothing else mattered, he was flying just above the thunderclouds, much to the dislike of his Blitz. They had awoken him early this morning, too early for his liking but duty called, they wanted him to go to Hopeless to learn about the Berkians that were following them. He hated the 'discreet' assignment, he was a soldier, not a spy or informant but of the crew of 4 he was the only one that could do this, Brynn would get too much attention, the captain was wanted and Sithera was uneasy with unknown people, so that just left him.

He had gotten the information that she wanted, they were looking for her in a group of six, he'd talked with everyone, they were nowhere near getting them, and he hoped that he'd scared them off a bit.

He arrived at the airship early in the evening, after dismounting Blitz quickly walked towards the pile of fish where Toothless and Shriek were already eating. Ray looked around and saw that his Halberd was still standing where he left it. He got the blade from the captain with the one year anniversary of their ship 'The SkyWhale'. He grabbed it and headed towards the quarters, where he would find the captain. He opened the door and saw Brynn together with the leader of their little group hung over a sky chart. "Ray, whats the news." Brynn asked. "I think I've scared them off, I don't know about the Hofferson lad, but the Snotface and Fishthing are certainly scared." He replied. "Ray, come look at this." Their captain said. he looked at the location she marked on the map, it was a small island south of Kalt. "What do you think of this? Think we can land there." He wanted to say no, to come up with any excuse to why they shouldn't go there, but he knew he couldn't, for one, he was a bad liar, and second he was confinced that emotional business wasn't at stake when it came to orders. "it's perfect capt'n." he said.

He wasn't too keen on their next stop, he'd do anything to get away from that place, when he left there he swore to never come back, to forget about that place, for it was the stables of his nightmares.

"Right, we wait for Sith' to come back, and we leave. Get some sleep Ray, we have a raid planned for tomorrow." The captain said.

"Aye aye, capt'n."

**AN :**

**So there it is, the third crewmember, Ray Roamer. I hope you like it so far. And your fist bit of Male!Astrid. I really hope you like it, and if you want to help and have ideas than please tell me, I'll definitely consider it. **

**As you've noticed I've still haven't chosen a name for the female hiccup. The current option that we have are : **

**Hiccup, I tried writing a bit with this one and I find it really confusing, I keep reading it like he is a boy until I find a she somewhere; **

**Hicca, haven't tried, I think it's a bit of a giveaway to give a female Hiccup the name Hicca, If all else fails I'll probably go with this one; **

**Rachel, I really like this one, but it's too different from, I'm really want to make the right decision here because it can't be changed for the remainder of the story. ;**


	4. Chap 3 Sneaky Shadows

**AN: **

**Very quick update today, I want to finish the crew so that I can continue with the actual plot, my excuses if it seems rushed.**

Later that day, when the storm was slowly fading, and the light outside slowly made way for the inevitable darkness of night, we find ourselves on the docks of Hopeless. Most of the airships were still grounded in the hangers, for the weather was too unforgiving for flight at the moment, other airships were securely tied by thick pieced of rope to the side of the docks, low enough to not get caught in the winds that roamed that night. Lights burned inside the cabins of the airships, for most of the crew were sheltering from the infernal weather, some were standing on the deck, using the giant balloon above them to shield them from the rain.

One specific airship was tied to the west side of the docks, it was a relatively new one, made for a specific task. On the side it read "The lost.". The airship was of simple design, one big balloon, of which the hull of the ship was suspended, and 2 longs small ones, which were solidly placed on the sides of the hull. Instead of the usual main engine and 2 steering engines this ship was equipped with 2 sets of steering engines, granting it great speed and mobility. On the deck we can spot a one handed man walking around the ship, tinkering with the small howitzer on the front. With one hand he held the gun in place and his other hand stopped halfway his lower arm, from there it became a piece of sturdy oak wood and out of there came a pipe wrench. This wasn't the only prosthetic that the man carried, next to a assortment of attachments for his hand he also had a wooden peg leg. He was singing some old viking song about a mace and a wife.

He turned around when he heard someone walk onto the plank of the ship, he saw one of his crew members walk up to him. "Any news?" he asked the young man. "W-Well, y-you s-see G-G-Gobber" The boy began, the old man was quickly getting annoyed with the stuttering boy. "Spit it out Fishlegs!" He yelled. "I man come up to me today and asked if I was one of those Berkians looking for 'Her'." Gobbers mood was immediately better. "What did he tell you lad?" He asked. "W-Well, I told him yes, and t-then he just told me to b-back off if I knew what was good for me." Gobber was disappointed to say the least, it sounded like a promising at first, but it was probably another bounty hunter or something. Most of them luckily know that the chief want her alive and well, most of them. "What did that man look like Fish?" He asked. "He wore a old trench coat, and, eem, he had a leather satchel, and, oh he carried a rifle on his back, one with a spyglass on it." The young boy answered. Then came the voice of one of the Thorson twins. "It's called a scope you nitwit." The female one said. "And we met him too, he was awesome! He showed us this scar on his neck in the form of a V!" Gobber froze on the spot, the description fitted perfectly, mysterious gunner, a scoped rifle, the old trench coat, it was him, the lad who sank a battleship 5 years ago and then fled execution with a dragon. What would he be doing looking for her?

His thought were interrupted by Aster who was dragging a frightened Snotloud. "Found this one hiding in a outhouse after some ghost talked to him." Aster said. Snotloud quickly defended her honor. "I tell you it's real, it was the ghost of that mysterious gunman." "Shut it Snot. Now have y'all been approached by this figure?" Gobber asked. The groups started nodding in unison. "Great, we'll just have to hope our paths don't cross again." He told his crew. "Weather forecast tells us that its clearing up tomorrow, we'll be setting sail again." The group of seven were standing on the front of the ship, they were talking about their next strategy. Meanwhile on the back of the ship, near the middle pair of steering engines, a small dark figure was walking silently over the deck. She slowly made her way towards the group, carefully sticking to the shadows so she wouldn't be seen, once she got close enough that the sound of the weather no longer masked the talking crew she listened carefully. They were discussing strategies and tasks. Who checked the engines, who manned the different guns, who was on steering duty, that sort of thing, to her disappointment she didn't hear anything about their next stop. And unlike most commanders, the one-legged man carried the plans with him at all time.

"Scheiße." She muttered under her breath, she did notice that they were tense, probably because of Ray's little chat with them, but they never spoke about their next stop. At least she knew that they would set sail tomorrow, since it was mentioned numerous times, and that they had a quite fast shit, for one of the twins kept boasting about it. "So they rely on speed huh?" She whispered to herself. "That's useful information." With that she started on her infiltration. She sneaked towards the back of the ship and vaulted over the side, she hung herself from the edge and move towards the docks, once in a good position she pushed herself off the ship and gracefully landed on the wooden docks. A lightning strike briefly illuminated her, showing her long black hair which was quickly hid in her dark grey cloak, if one was to stand in front of her they would notice the dark grey clothes with the brown paints, ending in a solid pair of leather boots. She quickly set off towards the beach. As she darted through the town she used the cover of night to her advantage, she was a master of the shadows and it wasn't hard for her to jump from roof to roof or dart between alleys. She reached the beach next to the harbor in no-time, there she formed a whistle with her fingers and blew on it. In mere seconds a giant dragon arose from the water. This Seashocker looked at her with both heads, before lowering itself so she could stand on them, the dragon was quite big, bigger than any of the other dragons they had, that was also the reason that this dragon usually slept away from the ship, in lakes or in the sea. She climbed on its back and quickly set off. The large dragon uses its wings as oars and paddles through the water with speed that no boat would dare to match. Looking back she can see the coastal town of Hopeless shrink in the distance, it the docks being overlooked by the commercial district, and that being overlooked by large steel producing factories, Emitting clouds of black into the already dark sky.

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She arrived back at their airship a bit after midnight. She noticed that Ray had already returned because his Skrill lying on the exhaust vent together with Shriek, meanwhile she saw toothless hanging from one of the steel pipes that carried hot air towards the balloon. Everyone was already asleep, they were also setting sail later that day so she also went to sleep, the dragons could guard the ship. She hugged her dragon, before walking over to the cabin to slumber down into her hammock. Her dragon descended towards the water and rested on the bottom of the seas below.

Tomorrow would be a day of travel and probably combat, there she would be able to make her name bigger, in the end, everyone would be scared of the swift attacks of Sithera Shadow.

That was, if she managed to not agree with one of Rays stupid bets to see how long he'd survive without backup.

**AN:**

**A shorter chapter introducing you to the last member of the crew, for now. :D**

**It's mainly so short because I have a party to attend to and I wanted to finish the crew so that I can continue with the actual story.**

**Take care everyone!**


	5. Chap 4 Audience

**AN :**

**Hey guys here we go with another chapter! O Got the question if I would accept any more OC's and the answer is yes! I will, if I get enough I might add a second ship so they have a small fleet. Please send OC if you want to, I'd love to hear them. **

**Also if you're wondering what kind of ship they have, go to the guns of icarus website, under the category ships you'll find them, Hicca's the proud owner of a 'Goldfish' while the Berkians have a 'Squid'.**

She was standing at the wheel, waiting for her faithful crew to arise from their slumber. The weather had indeed cleared over the night, though clouds still dotted the skies, there were far less than before. A large mist covered the body of water before her. The wind was blowing softly against the ship, it was a good day for flying.

The door of the quarters opened, and her friend came out, she looked around for a second before quickly spotting her captain. "Goodmorning Hickey." She said. "Brynn for the last time, it's either captain or Hicca, no stupid names, okay?" She replied with a smirk. "Aye aye, captain." The female engineer answered. Hicca checked her watch, that was located on her arm next to her compass. "Wake the others." She said. Brynn turned around to head into the quarters, a big grin plastered upon her face. This was the best thing in the morning for her. She opened the door and walked in, she gently woke Sithera and told her to wait outside. Sith knew very well what was going to happen and walked out after tying her boots.

Hicca saw Sithera coming out of the quarters, Sith', as they called her often, turned around to Hicca and held her hand in the air with three fingers stretched. After a second she lower her ring finger, another second later came her middle finger, and when her index finger finally went down. A loud thump was heard from the quarters and Brynn quickly ran out. Hicca placed her hand solidly between her hands, she forgot to ask her to wake him up 'gently'. A colorful arrangement of curses could be heard from inside the cabin. The door suddenly flew open and out stepped a very annoyed gunner. "You're going to break the door one day, you know." Brynn said. Ray angrily muttered. "I'm gonna break you one day, you know." As he tied his scarf around his neck.

"Stop talking and listen up." Hicca suddenly spoke. They all turned around and looked at her. "Today will be sailing to a small supply route for the military, we have news of a ship carrying weapon parts. It's supposedly well armed so we'll go in fast and hard, we'll have a drop on them, understood?" The three crewmembers all muttered something as confirmation, Brynn gave her classic "Aye aye", Ray gave his trained "Yes capt'n", while Sith said "Jawoll" which apparently means yes in German. They all got to their jobs, Brynn checking on the status of the different machinery on the ship, While Sith and Ray were on lookout. She held a spyglass and was scanning the sky, while Ray had no use for such 'primitive equipment' and used his rangefinder, a binocular consisting of o a normal lens and a distance measuring device. Together they checked all around them, behind, in front, port and starboard.

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Meanwhile just outside the Hopeless port, a speedy ship was heading west. On the deck were a group of teens, who lazily were staring into the skies, one of them was still standing and actively searching using a actual optic. Another one was checking the machinery, but the rest was just enjoying the change in weather. Their captain, a certain one armed and one legged man, called out for the lazy guys on the deck. "Up you go, lads. Spot the skies, or you'll be cleaning that deck soon!" He barked out. The group of three quickly got up and pulled out their spyglasses, checking the skies for any movement. "Gobber, where are we heading again?" One of them asked. "A small trade route, word is military been attacked by the same guy that talked to you yesterday, I want to have a chat with him too." The commanding man told him. "And what makes you think that he'll attack today?" Another one asked. "Word is that a small Junker called 'The mule' is carrying weapons. it's too close to him to let that slip." He answered.

They passed through another could and saw the open skies ahead of them, they were above average height and in the distance they could see a ship about their size, flying low over the ocean. "Aster, I want a name and course of that vessel." He barked. Aster quickly grabbed the high magnification spyglass, of which they had only one. He lay down on the deck with the optic laying on the ground, to stabilize it. "It's the mule sir!" He yelled out. "Excellent!" Gobber exclaimed.

They followed the ship for a few hours, the sun was now in front of them. They just entered a large cloud, moisturizing the entire ship. Luckily they knew to wear thick, warm clothes. Otherwise they would freeze to death. Gobber was keeping the ship steady, the rest was just walking around aimlessly, sometimes checking if the mule was still in sight. Tuffnut was checking the skies, not really to look for treats or anything, no, he was destined to find the first 'Sky whale'. Or at least destined to beat his sister at it. He checked around the clouds on the left of the mule, maybe the whales liked the military, who knows. There was a flash in one of the clouds, and a projectile came speeding out of it, hitting the Mule. "I think he's here Gobber!" He yelled out, after watching a second shot hit the ship, probably disabling a cannon. "Shouldn't we help them?" Fishlegs asked. "Not if we want to stay alive!" Gobber responded seeing the attacking ship emerge from the clouds below. The attacker was too low to spot them, so they were good for now. "Let's wait it out first, then we'll tail them."

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Meanwhile on Hicca's ship the attack was in full effect, Sith had spotted the ship and Ray had quickly measured the distance, before hopping on the front Flak and waiting for the order to open fire. Once Hicca gave this order he fired a quick shot at the left gun, which was a mounted flamethrower, destroying it and the mound beyond repair. Usually the dragons would be going crazy by now, but they were posted on a sea stack a bit away, waiting for a whistle indicating that the battle was over. After that he fired a shot at their left engine, making them unable to use the steering engines for extra speed. He signaled Hicca that he was done and she steered the ship towards the Mule.

Once they we're close enough Brynn, Sithera and Ray threw hooks at the balloon, getting them stuck on the steel frame that held the balloon in place. They swung to the other ship and gracefully landed on the deck. Too bad the crew wasn't having any of it, they rushed the attackers without thinking. The first man to attack was young man, probably a new recruit trying to prove his worth. He had a sable in his hand and was attacking Brynn, who easily disarmed and defeated him. Some woman also attacked Sithera, but she dropped on the deck before she even reached her, thanks to her skills with throwing knives. Ray was also fighting off a crewmember, this one wielding a pike, which proved to be a match to his halberd, unfortunately for the soldier, raiders didn't fight fair, and he realized this at the moment when he successfully blocked a attack from Ray, only to find a dagger plummeted in his stomach.

The remaining crew stood frightened on the deck, seeing 3 of their fellow members being cut down so quickly. One of them called a name towards the staircase leading below deck, a few loud thumps were heard and a giant of a engineer walked out. "This here gunner's trying to raid us!" His crewmembers shouted. "Show him what you got!" The man only needed to hear this once and he began yelling loudly, swinging a large pipe wrench above his head. Sith' and Brynn looked at the man then back at Ray, before mumbling something along the lines of. "All yours mate." Ray looked at the man, who was slowly approaching him while swinging his wrench above his head. The remaining crew was cheering and encouraging the man to finish the attacker. But were shocked when they heard a loud bang, followed by their large crewmember hitting the deck, with blood slowly forming a puddle around him. They looked at their friends target only to see he was holding a revolver in his hand, still smoking. "Anyone else?" The attacker yelled, as a response the remaining crew al dropped their weapons. "That's what I thought." He said.

During the fight, Hicca had carefully aliened their ship with their target, and had lowered the plank, which was literally a thick wooden board. Ray kept the crew under shot while Sith and Brynn started carrying the crates with weapon parts to their own ship. After all the seven crates were taken they slowly made their own way towards the their ship. Keeping a careful watch at the soldiers still standing on the deck. They undocked their ship and quickly rose in the skies, to be out of reach of their weapons before heading into a large cloud, hiding them from the Mule's crew.

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Gobber and his crew had seen the entire thing go down, deciding it would be best to not intervene but having seen the man in the trench coat. And they would be sure to follow them. "I don't think they've seen us, keep yer guard up lads!" Gobber yelled to his crew. They all quickly got back to their work on the ship, running around the airship. After everything was set for the chase the rested, Aster standing behind the small flak on the front of the ship, ready for a possible attack.

They followed the mysterious fishlike ship for a while, they hadn't noticed their followers because they had high above them so they couldn't spot them. A their target had used a moment ago. "So are we going to attack them?" Tuffnut asked. "No, ya idiot!" Gobber yelled. "You saw how quick they were with the Mule, we wouldn't stand a chance!" Everyone, even his sister, looked at Tuffnut with a gaze of 'Are you stupid?'. Some even wanted to ask that, but decided that they knew the answer.

Their target was now approaching a sea stack in the middle of nowhere, probably small island first, but now nothing more than a rock jutting out of the water. Ruffnut was the first to sport the inhabitants of said rock. "There are flying straight to a group of dragons?" Aster dismounted his gun and took the spyglass from her, he peered through the lenses to look at the sea stack and was surprised at what he saw. Some female crewmember with black hair tossed a fish to the devils, before letting them rest on the balloon, and even on the deck! He relayed this information back to Gobber. "What kind of dragons?" He asked. Aster took the high magnification spyglass this time, to take a close look at the dragons. "I think I see four." He said. "A skrill, some black one, A Flightmare and there's a Seashocker swimming beneath them." "Curses, if they work with these beasts we'll never be able to take them!" Gobber yelled. "We'll just have to wait and see I guess."

However, unbeknownst to them, a certain Seashocker was scanning the skies for her friends using her echo, and their pursuer had not go unnoticed for the two heads.

**AN:**

**Hello everyone, me again (who else xD). I just wanted to say thank you again (Like I do almost every time xD) for the reviews and the followers and favorites and all. It really means a lot to me.**

**Now, someone asked if I would still be taking OC's. Yes, I think I will be during the entire duration of the story. And I'll say so if that changes. I don't know if I'm going to expand Hicca's crew any further, but if I get enough I might add a second ship (like said in the first AN this chapter). **

**Have a great day everyone and take care!**

**R4y**


	6. Chap 5 Hello again

**AN: **

**Here you everyone! I hope you'll like the next chapter. I'm thinking about starting another story. But if I do so, I'll have less time for my other stories. So if I do, you won't be able to expect 2 chapters a week. This is still my goal, so I hope to still make that happen but school and life is still a thing so yea.**

**Enjoy.**

The surface of the sea was calm and gentle waves crossed the surface. This blue endless, well sea, of water was interrupted by a pair of heads, both belonging to one dragon. This joyful beast was happily swimming around the freezing water, glad that his human friends had returned unharmed from their raid. One of the heads, overjoyed about the ordeal, let out a ultrasonic shriek. The other one was also happy, but this quickly faded when he heard the shriek of his buddy, returning after it had echoed from a metal surface. The heads both spun towards the location where the sound resurfaced from, and found themselves looking at a speck on the sky, another ship. The heads shared a quick glare, before rising out of the water, and ascending towards their ship above them.

On the ship was a happy mood, they had just captured the full load of a military grade weapon. Some of the best around. The few boxes that they took contained parts for a medium sized gun, the Typhon, a heavy, dual barreled Flak cannon, capable of brining destroyers to the ground. The older designs used 3 crewman to control the weapon, thanks to the weight, one had to be used for moving, another one for aiming, and then the last crewman fired and reloaded the weapon, but thanks to the advances in technology, small steam-filled cylinders, and oiled ball-bearings made the one of the most precise and deadly weapons of the air that could be controlled by one person. Hicca had known of the cargo, wanting to upgrade their airships arsenal, and as a gift for Ray, who regularly complained about their current main gun. Now she just had to convince Brynn to put it together. Since the mechanic and the gunner weren't on best terms, like now for instance. The two had fought side by side just a moment ago, but they were currently rolling around the deck, fighting. Hicca looked down on the two, fighting like small children. "Will they ever stop?" She asked Sithera, who stood by her side. "I've never seen anyone be so aggressive to each other." Sithera looked at the two fighting crewmates and responded to Hicca. "I don't think its aggression why they're fighting." "Oh, of course, they probably fight out of mutual understanding." Hicca responded dryly. "I still think it has something to do with dominance." Sithera looked at her captain with a grin, before looking back at the fight and responding. "It could be some sort of wicked mating dance." Hicca chocked on the air she was about to breathe, and looked at her crewmember with a doubtful expression. She wanted to say something, but then her expression changed to one of deep thinking. "It does make sense." She said. Sithera responded with. "Es ist liebe." And proceeded to walk towards the railing to check on her dragon. Hicca continued to watch the fight, now from a different angle. Brynn and Ray were rolling around the deck, but Brynn gained the upper hands for a second and quickly pinned Ray to the deck. They looked at each other for a second before quickly turning a darkest shade of red that Hicca had ever seen. Brynn quickly stood up to collect her swords, which had scattered over the deck during the fight. Ray also arose from the deck, adjusting his scarf and swinging his satchel around his shoulder. They then continued with separate businesses.

The tension on the deck was interrupted by a large Seashocker landing on it. Barely able to fit between the many riggings that kept the balloon and the ship together. Sithera quickly ran towards her dragon. "What is it guys?" She asked, they both let out a low rumble and pointed their heads to the balloon. "There's a hole in the blimp?" She guessed. Both heads shook from left to right. "There's someone above us?" She then asked, hoping that the answer would be no, but sadly, the two dragons bobbed their heads up and down, signaling that they were indeed being followed. Sithera spared a quick look at Hicca, who had overheard the 'conversation', and directly responded with barking out orders. "Brynn, check engines! Ray get up on the blimp and range the ship, take Sith' for identification." The two quickly found themselves climbing the net-like part of the rigging and quickly scaling the balloon. "There!" Sith yelled, spotting the dot on the horizon, being a little behind them. "They must be following us, they're in our blind spot, but still behind us."

Ray grabbed his rangefinder from his bag and glared at the ship. While he was turning the dials to find the exact range from their location, he was relaying what he could see to Sithera. "It's long, small, had one big balloon on top and two small ones at the side of the main hull, looks like a small scoped flak on the front, but I can't be sure." Sith had no problem with recalling where she had seen that ship. "It's Berk!" She called. She hurried down the netting and quickly landed back on the deck. "Hicca, it's Berk and they're following us!" She was just finished saying it as Ray came down, still hanging in the netting. "They're at 500 back and 700 up, far out of reach. They only have anti-ship arms and I think they know about the dragons." Hicca was processing this information, Berk was there and they knew about the dragons. they probably followed the mule thinking they could catch Ray. "Sith, can your dragon go that high?" She asked. The seashocker was best in water, so they had difficulty flying in thin air. "Don't know Hic'." Okay, so she couldn't send Sith. "Bummer. Brynn, you're on it, together with Ray. " But Brynn responded with. "The whole archipelago knows I have ties with you, and you want to send me towards Berkians?" 'Shit' Hicca thought. She couldn't send Ray alone, they were with six, and even though he's a good fighter, he could very well be overpowered. "Sith' take wheel!" "Yes, ma'm." Came her response. Hicca handed the wheel over to Sith, who watched as she put her helmet on, masking her identity. "Wait, you're not going, are you?" She asked shocked. "Ray's not going alone, I'll stay back and won't talk." She responded before switching her leg over to flying and mounting Toothless. Ray quickly jumped on Blitz and they ascended to the skies above.

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Utter panic had arose at the Berkians ship, not only had they seen the gunner on the balloon, ranging their ship, which obviously meant that they had been spotted, no they also had 2 small dots, presumably dragons, coming at them with great speed. "Get on that twist her round lads!" Gobber yelled while standing on the middle of the deck, he'd given the steering to Fishlegs so that he could manage the panicking crew. "Line the Gatling with them." The speedy and maneuverable ship turned 90 degrees, pointing the port located 6 barreled Gatling gun straight at the dragons. "Snot you're on it!" Upon hearing this Snotloud quickly ran towards the gun. Flipping the lever that would get it spinning and ready to fire. He watched the brass barrels slowly begin to gain speed. But then, a ball came at him, blue, like the fire of am, oh shit. "NIGHT FURY!" He screamed just before he dove away from the gun, which was now reduced to a pile of half molten metal. They saw the dragons head towards their deck and backed off towards the rear of the ship. Fishlegs was hiding behind the wheel, while Snotloud lay unconscious on the deck.

The remaining crew quickly retreated back, hiding behind some boxes and machinery, the only one who remained on the deck was Gobber, having already attached his sword prostatic. The first dragon the near the ship was a Skrill, but at the last moment it veered to the right. Their eyes were fixed to the large beast and only noticed their visitor when it landed behind him. Apparently the dragon had a rider, it was the gunner no less. Standing calmly on their deck and holding his rifle loosely. Then another dragon landed on the ship, one that no one had seen before, the Night Fury. And that one also had a rider, from the back of the dragon, came a person, tall but quite skinny for the average person. She, judging by the streaks of brown hair that came from underneath her helmet, wore a strange outfit. Consisting of the dark helmet, covering her entire face. A thick leather chest piece, one large and one smaller shoulder guard. which were followed by another set that covered her entire lower arm, only revealing small and precise fingers. From underneath the chest piece came a leather skirt, reaching above her knees, and held tight by two black leather straps. The skirt ended and made way for her pants, which were a bit lighter than the leather skirt, she had thicker kneepads and wore a sturdy, thick leather boot, her other boot was replaced with a metal contraption, resembling a foot.

"Who 'are ye' guys?" Gobber asked. He was answered by the gunner. "I don't think you lot are in the position to ask questions." He said, as he swung his rifle over his shoulder. "Why are you following us?" He asked. Gobber decided that it would be best to answer. "My crew 'ere told me that you might know something that could interest me. So 'a got curious." Ray looked at Gobber. "And what could I possibly have to offer you?" He asked, playing dumb. "Information 'bout Hicca Hiddaguard Haddock the Third." Gobber responded calmly. "Perhaps we have." Ray turned to Hicca, who was casually leaning against Toothless. She shook her head. "Well, I'm afraid I can't help you." Ray answered dryly. "But I would like to ask, why are you looking for 'Berks lost heir.'?" Gobber took a few second to answer before saying. "We did something we're not proud at', and 'er father wants 'er back." Ray let out a chuckle. "I thinks she got that message when he put the bounty on her head."

Gobber was trying to remain calm, but these people knew something about Hicca, and he wouldn't let them get away. There was a little bit of tension on the ship, no wonder, seeing how 2 dragons were in close proximity of a tribe which kill them on sight. The Berkians decided it would be best to remain calm. Fishlegs had fainted upon seeing the Night Fury. Snotloud was slowly regaining consciousness, while the twin were ogling the dragons, a Night Fury and a Skrill, those could bring huge destruction. Aster had his gaze focused on the gunner, hoping that if he stared hard enough he might collapse or spill the secrets he'd been hiding from them. But to no avail. The tension reached its climax when Gobber took a step forward. Both dragons immediately bared their teeth and snarled at the one legged man, but grew quiet at the sign of their riders. "Sir Roamer" He began. "I've heard you've been a soldier of fortune, and a soldier needs an army. What would you ask for finding Hicca for us." Everyone knew what Gobber was playing at, mercenaries were sly bastards, whoever pays most gets the man. Ray walked over towards Gobber, signaling his Skrill to relax. Once he stood a mere half meter away from Gobber, he quickly swooped his leg underneath him. Gobber immediately hit the ground. When he opened his eyes he was looking straight into the barrel of a revolver. Once Ray thought he had his full attention he began. "I follow no man, I follow a cause." He cocked his revolver and looked at the woman leaning against the Night Fury. Waiting for something. The woman shook her head and he holstered his revolver, before walking back towards his dragon.

The woman swung herself in the saddle of her dragon, before a metal sound was heard and she took off. The man also climbed on his Skrill, but before he left he turned to Gobber, who was still lying on the ground. "I'd watch yourself 'Belch' it's a dangerous world up here." Then they heard the whistle of the Night Fury, and they most left engine was obliterated by a blue plasma blast.

The two riders flew off, back towards their own ship. "You think they got the message?" Ray asked. Hicca sighed. "From what I saw they'll never stop." They continued the rest of their flight in silence.

**AN: **

**So there we go! Another chapter finished, I hope everyone likes it. Like said in the beginning of the chapter I am planning to start a new story. It will be HTTYD but it's a crossover again. This time it's a modern AU, mixed with XCOM Enemy Unknown, another game I love. I have some great ideas for this so it will either take a while for it to start or it could be done later today. I have no idea. Also if anyone wants to know where I got my inspiration for the female Hiccup. It's from a picture on deviant art by juliajm15 called 'Fem!Hiccup' He also had drawings of Male Astrid on his account and he's just plain awesome.**

**Take care, everyone!**

**R4y**


	7. Chap 6 Meet the neighbor

**AN :**

**Here we go guys and girls, another chapter. Before we start I would something. I started a poll on my profile about the next story. I currently have 3 ideas, but more are welcome!**

**Anyway let's get back to the skies.**

On the deck of the Berkians ship, a pattern was covering the wood, it consisted out of a heavy and thick footprint and a small dot form a wooden leg. Gobber was walking around the ship, very annoyed. "What do they want with her?" He asked no one in particular. "Why wouldn't they help us?" Gobber walked around the ship like Mildew when he lost his sheep. His crew was watching him. "Eem, Gobber?" Fishlegs asked calmly, scared that he might send the smith into a state of berserk. "Yes," Gobber responded a lot calmer. "What is it?" "Well with the engine being molten, we can't continue the pursuit. So what will our new course be?" "Dammit!" Gobber yelled. The old smith used to be a calm and understanding individual, but that had changed when Hicca left. He blamed himself mainly, he should have seen the signs, he should have been there for her. Hicca was like the daughter he never had. Gobber though for a second, calming himself, and realized that there was no other option. "Steer her to back to Berk fish. We'll rest and get her repaired, then we'll try again." Fishlegs responded with a "Okay, Sir!" and hurried off to the maps to determin the course.

At this point Snotloud, who had heard the conversation, decided it would be time to speak first and think later. "Why are we looking for her anyway? The hiccup probably dead anyw" Before he could finish the sentence he was answered by a fist to his face, throwing him a good meter back. He felt his jaw to check if it was dislocated, luckily for him, it wasn't. He looked up to see a fuming Gobber stand over him. "Berk has already given up on her once on my watch! I will not make that mistake again! So don't you ever even dare to suggest that we halt the search. Or you can tell that to Stoick personally." Snotloud froze when he thought about that. The chief had taken it the hardest of everyone. He buried himself in work, and thanks to that time wasn't being kind to him. He imagined him standing before the big, red-haired man, and telling him that his daughter was dead anyway. He slowly got up and hurried to the back of the ship, sitting down on a crate. Meanwhile, Aster was leaning on some railing, watching the small black speck on the sky, that was the ship that contained information about Hicca, slip out of their reach and into the clouds, never to be seen again. What would they know about Hicca. Roamer was seriously offended when Gobber suggested hunting her down. And that look in his eyes, he had respect for her. But why? These questions started a fierce battle with Asters thoughts, giving him a headache. "Why don't you want to be found Hicca."

:::::::::::::::::::::::

Meanwhile the 'Skywhale' had arrived at a small cove, located on a island called 'Thor's rest' since with some imagination, you could make a hammer out off it. Hicca carefully lowered the ship into the cove, until it was just above the ground. She signaled her crew to start tying the ship to hold it in place, they couldn't have it drifting off now could they. Once the ropes were tied her crew assembled on the deck. Hicca still stood at the wheel. "Sith' and Ray, you go look for something to eat, we still have some potato's and bread. But that's for emergencies." Ray swung his satchel around his neck and zip lined down one of the thick ropes connecting the ship to the ground. Sithera was about to go but she was stopped by Hicca. "Take your time, we'll be making a surprise here." "Okay-dokay!" Sithera responded, as she also zip lined down to Ray, before they both disappeared into the thick tree line.

Hicca then turned to her remaining crewmember, who was looking curiously at the boxes on the deck. "What's in these anyway?" She asked. "A new front gun." She answered. "A typhon?" Brynn asked. "Well yes, why do you ask." Hicca responded, trying to pry information loose about Brynn 'ideas' towards Ray. "Ray kept talking about it." Brynn answered, before putting on a heavier voice and imitating the currently absent gunner. "This peashooter is fun, but it's no use against serious opponents. What we need is a Typhon, that's a real beauty." Hicca tried not to laugh at how close Brynn came to imitating the gunner. But she still had her goals in mind. While she was breaking some of the boxes open with a crowbar, she asked Brynn. "I never thought you paid so much attention to Ray." Hicca had to be blind to not notice the dark red shade Brynn got as she said that, a large grin formed on her face. "It is true!" She exclaimed. Brynn, fully realizing what she was on about, decided to play dumb. "What do you mean?" She asked. "Oh nothing." Hicca began calmly, but continued slowly "You have your crosshairs on the guy with the crosshairs." before bursting out in a fit of laughter. Her laughter was cut short when Brynn pulled Hicca to her face. "Not a word about this. Got it?" She asked. Hicca nodded, trying her best to not burst out laughing again, because Brynn might kill her. Once she was released by her hold she said. "Well, we best get building then, I'm sure you'd love to see him happy." And she was answered by a piece of wood, being thrown her way.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::

On the far side of the island Sithera and Ray were currently sneaking through the forest, they were tracking some deer prints in the hopes of finding a nice meal for the night. Sith' was tracking the prints, which were still quite fresh. While ray was looking around them, making sure nothing sneaked up on them. "What do you think about the Berkians?" Sithera asked while inspected some broken twigs. Ray didn't face her as he answered. "Too ambitious for their own good." "Yea, they're not going to stop are they?" She said. Ray responded with. "I wouldn't count on it."

They continued in silence, Sithera following the track while Ray kept checking their surroundings. After a while the forest started clearing up, and made way for a open field of grass, with a small creek on the far end. Sith emerged from the trees first, scanning the surroundings for the deer that she had been tracking and spotting said animal at the far end of the opening, drinking from the creek. She turned to Ray who was just waiting on the edge of the clearing. "Ray, they're on the far side." She whispered. "Pick a big one and we can go back." Ray crouched next to her and grabbed his rangefinder from his satchel. He only had one shot, because it would scare the other animals away. Once he was content with the readings from his equipment he grabbed his rifle again. Zeroing the scope the 300 meters where the animals were drinking. He rested the stock of the gun in the split of a nearby tree and took aim. Taking deep breaths to slow his heartbeat he scanned the group for the biggest animal. Once he found it he held his breath, waited for the interval between heartbeats and fired. The loud sound of the shot rang through the air, and all the animals in the woodland scattered, all but one. For a large deer was lying dead near the creek, a bullet hole in its side, piercing the heart.

Ray glared through his scope for a few more seconds before calling out to Sithera. "It's dead!" He said, before he swung his rifle back on his back and starting the march towards the fallen animal. Sithera quickly joined him in the short walk towards their dinner. "So, want to skin it here or back at the ship?" Ray asked her. "We'll skin and cut it here, and leave some for the predators." Sithera answered. Ray handed her the proper tools from his bag. "I'll take overwatch." He said as he pulled back the bolt of his rifle and let the still shell tumble to the ground. "Fine by me." Sithera answered as she started cutting the meat from the animal. They usually took enough for one meal, the leftovers would be thrown away or cooked into a stew. But they never stored meat, since it would quickly go bad on the ship.

While Sithera was busy cutting sizable meals for the 4 of them. Ray was checking the surroundings from a tree in the middle of the clearing. If anyone was nearby they would have definitely heard the shot. He kept scanning the area while Sith' was giving her full focus on the messy task that she got. "Hey Sith!" Ray yelled after a while. "Care if I take a leak?" Sith stopped working for a second to look at her crewmate. "Go knock yourself out!" She yelled back. Ray quickly disappeared into the woods. She continued cutting the deer, she had 3 sizable pieces and was working on the last one. "Always way too much." She muttered to herself. "Well, ah' could take it ya' when ya' done with tha'." Sithera turned around in a flash upon hearing the strange voice. She saw a older man, probably late forties standing there, holding a walking cane. "I 'eard a shot when I was walking 'ere. We don't get many visitors on this isle." Sithera was observing the man, making sure he wasn't a treat. "You're not tha' one who fired the shot now 'ere you?"

Sithera decided that the man was not planning on bringing her harm. And if he was planning on doing so, he probably couldn't. "No I wasn't." She answered, still being careful about what she gave away to the man. "Oh, where are my manners" He begun. "The name is Toby Tobias Cutterson, it's a pleasure to meet ya'." "My name is Sith'." Sithera answered. "Okay Sith', I'll cut to the chase her." Toby spoke. "When I heard the shot I was already heading here. I come here every day you see." "To enjoy the scenery?" Sithera asked. Toby chuckled. "No actually, although it's quite a view isn't it?" He said laughing. "I come here in the hope that a young boy that I last saw some years ago will be here again. You don't happen to have seen a lad in his twenties 'round 'ere?" He asked. Sithera was thinking about what to answer to Toby when she noticed Ray emerging from the treeline, his rifle aimed at Toby. "Toby, I need you to put your hands up in the air, right now." Sithera said calmly. "Ah, the gunners back I guess." Toby responded before doing as asked. "Who's he?" Ray asked Sithera, who was now wrapping the pieces of meat in leather. "Say's the names Toby." She answered. "Toby?" Ray asked slowly. Sithera wanted to respond but noticed the question was not directed at her. She looked up from her work and saw how Ray had dropped his rifle, something she had never seen him do before, and was staring at Toby. "'Ey there boy." Toby said. "Been a darn long time."

"You know each other?" Sithera asked when she was done wrapping the pieces of meat. "Yea." Was all Ray managed to answer. Toby who had now lowered his hands and picked his cane back from the ground said. "Why don't ya come to ma' place. It's not too far." Sith looked at Ray, waiting for his answer. "Yea, sure. If that's okay with you that is." He looked at Sithera, who merely nodded. Toby walked towards the creek, following it into the forest. There, a well worn path, probably from the daily visits from Toby was carved through the woods. They walked in silence. Before reaching a small cottage with a water wheel. The first half meter of the cottage was stone, from there, large wooden pieces rose until they connected with the straw roof of the building. It had a small garden with some vegetables at the side, and a large waterwheel was turning in the back.

"Hmm, hasn't changed a bit." Ray mumbled when they walked into the cottage. They sat down at a table near the fireplace. Toby got some tea for the both of them, before joining them at the table. The silence was killing, Ray kept darting his eyes around the room while Toby had his gaze fixed at his drink. Sithera was growing nervous from the silence. She's never been good with new people. "So, how do you know each other." She asked quietly. Ray just kept silent, so Toby decided he'd have to answer that one. "Ray grew up here, I'm 'is old neighbor." Upon hearing this Sithera lit up. She looked at Ray "What? Why didn't you tell? We have to see your parents!" she exclaimed. Suddenly Ray stood up and walked out the door. Sithera looked at Toby, who shook his head. "He never told you did 'e?" He asked. "Told us what?" Sithera asked out of curiosity. "What happened to his parents."

Toby let out a deep sigh. "It doesn't surprise me really." He said. "Ya know, that he didn't tell ya. It were some a his darker days." Sithera didn't like the idea of being left alone with this strange man, but curiosity got the better of her and she decided to stay and listen to his story. "It was about 3 days after he sunk that ship, and he was still on the run." Toby began. "It started out as a calm day, and I found myself indulged in a book about beekeeping, since I keep ma own bees in a meadow not far from 'ere." Sithera was annoyed at how easily the man got sidetracked. "But then I smelled smoke. A lot of it. I looked out the window to see a giant cloud of grey rose from the tree line. And it was coming from the Roamer family's farm." Sithera could guess where this was going. "I 'urried through the forest to find meself joining a group of other inhabitants, and we all watched with sheer 'orror. The Roamer's farm was ablaze, and soldiers were keeping everyone from extinguishing the fire." She had heard of such acts before, but not by the hands of the military. It was common for brutes and mercenaries. If they couldn't find you, they would find your family. "Once the fire died and the soldiers left, we made a pyres for Roamer family, and gave them their rites."

Sithera was shocked. Why hadn't Ray them. Why would he keep such a horrible secret hidden from them. Then she remembered something. "Was the slaughter commanded by a certain general Debaul?" She asked. "Yes, yes that's the very devil himself." Toby answered. "Why?" "We pried that bit loose from him and we're trying to track him down for him." She replied with a sigh. Toby looked at her with a blank expression. "Well he had you chasing a ghost. He killed the man shortly after the incident." Sithera listened with confusion. "What? How? Why?" She asked. "You'll have to ask him yerself." Toby said. Before he handed her a map of the isle, with Roamer farm still marked on it. She looked at Toby with even more confusion. "Gather yer friends lass, you'll find him there." Sithera was speechless, so she nodded, stood up and made way to the door. "Toby," She said before she left. The man looked up. "Thank you."

**AN :**

**So here it is, very Ray centered but I would like to add a rich background to each off the crew. I hope everyone enjoyed it! **

**Take care everyone!**

**R4y**


	8. Chap 7 The past is a scary place

**AN : **

**Hey guys and girls! I hope everyone is interested how the story continues.**

Sithera reached the ship after half an hour. She made her way through the tree line and into the cove where the ship was docked. She had a good view of the side of the ship, where the small Gatling gun pointed just above her head. "Hey guy's, I'm back." She said in a sad tone. She saw Hicca's head come above one of the metal plates on the side of the ship. Brynn followed soon after. "What's up?" Hicca asked. Brynn looked around. "And where's Ray?" Trying to sound like she didn't care. "Well, we have a problem." Sith' responded.

She was explaining everything, from the point where they shot the deer, to the point where Ray stormed out of the house and left. The two reacted shocked, they hadn't known of this side of him, and they were quite certain that there was something wrong if he reacted that way. "We need to go and find him!" Brynn shouted out, in a clear state of distress about her crewmember. "Calm down Brynn, what if he loses it or something like that?" Hicca added. The arguing lasted for a good while, "How will we even find him?" Brynn added. "Toby gave me a map of the isle, he said to we'd find him here." Sithera responded while she laid her finger on the map she got from Ray's old neighbor.

The three looked at each other for a second before directly hurrying of towards the marked location. They told all the dragons, except for Blitz, to stay and guard the ship. On their way to the Roamers farm, as it was marked on the map, they passed Toby's cottage. The man was currently carrying some large honey filled bottles and was moving them into his house. "Be sure to stop by when you leave!" he yelled after the three. "We will!" Hicca quickly yelled back, before they dissepeared into the forest, following the muddy road that connected the various locations on the small island. The forest was light and colorful, but it didn't brighten the mood of the crew. One of them was in trouble, and they would help him. Or at least try as best as they could.

The forest started to clear and made way for a large field of green. Flowers dotted the grass and the endless field waved gently with the wind. On the side of the road they could see the remains of a stone wall, about half a meter high, which would probably surround the courtyard of the farm. The group scanned the area, to find their crewmate sitting next to a tree, staring to a thick stone jutting out of the ground. His rifle was next to him, leaning against the strong and sturdy oak tree. At the wooden stock of his rifle was his bag, with the contents clearly visible as they almost spilled from it. He was holding his knife in his hands, still in its sheath. They approached him carefully. Blitz, who had been following them from the air for a while now, landed gently next to them. "I never told you how I got this knife did I?" Ray then suddenly asked. Brynn was the first to respond. "Ray, are you okay? We heard what happened. Are you?" She asked with worry. Ray just unsheathed the knife and carefully inspected the blade. "My father gave it to me." He began. "On the day that I graduated my training as master gunner." He took a last glance at the blade before carefully sheathing it again. Then he quietly said. "He told me it was the proudest day of his life." The rest didn't know what to say, so Hicca decided to try something. "It wasn't your fault. The military did it." She said, hoping to reassure her friend before he did something that he would regret. They all sat down next to him, Blitz gently nudging his leg, which was outstretched and pointing at the thick stone marker. "After I escaped I ran for a long time. And from what I heard the military presumed me dead. Seeing as I was taken by dragons." The group was awfully quiet, except for some soft crooning of Blitz, who was worried about her rider. "When I finally decided to check back home I found this." He swung his arm around to gesture to their surroundings. "However the fields were still ashes and the ruins stood a bit higher." "The man who did this were monsters!" Hicca quickly added. He grabbed his knife again, tossing it around in his hand, inspecting the weight. "What makes a man a monster?" He asked. Sithera could guess where this was going. "You're not a monster Ray." Ray had his gaze still focused on his knife. "Do they enjoy killing?" Brynn was growing annoyed by his depressed state. "Yes. Monster kill without mercy, without conscious." Sithera saw the look on his face change and remembered what Toby had said before she left. "What happened after the raid?"

Ray looked up from his knife to look her straight in the eyes, she could now see that he was on the edge of crying. "I killed them." He said. "All of them." The group looked down, this explained a lot. Ray had quite a big moral complex, he even said a few prayers for the men who killed on the mule a day ago. Blitz crooned sadly and hung his head. "Was she there?" Hicca asked while pointing at the female Skrill. Ray looked at his dragon and swung a hand around her head. "No, but she found me afterwards though." The group was thinking about it, when Brynn asked. "How many were there?" "The full group, about twenty to 30 men. They set up camp in a valley, I had been waiting for them for a good hour." The crew was quietly listening to his story by now. "I picked some of from range first. Scared the horsed to run wild and scatter into the woods. Then I finished the rest, only to leave two." Hicca was the one to ask this time. "Who?" "Some messenger and the officer who ordered the raid. Only one of them left the place, you can guess who." "You killed the officer that we have been trying to track down?" Hicca asked. Ray merely nodded, before adding with a sorrow filled voice. "And I enjoyed every second of it." Brynn shuffled next to him and swung her arm around him, he tried to shove it off at first, but accepted it shortly after. She let her head rest on his shoulder before saying. "You're a good man Ray, don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Not even yourself." He froze for a second, like he was paralyzed by her Flightmare, before swinging his arm around her and enveloping her in a deep hug. The hug lasted quite a while, but it was interrupted by a jealous Blitz, who also wanted some attention. Ray hugged his dragon back. "I promise you, you will never find me like that again. Ever." He whispered into the dragons ear, referring to the broken shell of a men he was after the slaughter that he created. He then stood up, patted his dragon on his head and swung his gear back on himself. "Finding revenge might not have given me my family back." He said with a sad tone. But then, with a glad and happy smile he added. "But it gave me a darn good new one." As he swung his arms around Sithera and Blitz.

They walked back over the muddy path, slowly making their way to Toby's cottage. They had promised to visit before they left after all. When they reached the cottage they were greeted by a sweet scent. Which Ray and Blitz immediately recognized. He turned his head to Blitz, who was staring back at him. "He wouldn't." He said, before being greeted by a jovial old man, carrying a crate filled with bottles. "Can't get ya leaving with a dry throat now can I!" He said with a big grin on his face. Ray rushed towards the man to take the heavy crate from his arms. "You need to stop carrying these yourself." He said. "You're back isn't what it used to be." "But mah brewin' is still the same!" Toby added. The rest had now caught up and saw that the crate was filled with bottles, bottles containing honey mead. Ray set the crate down next to him and noticed that Toby's face was one of sorrow now. "What the matter Toby?" He asked. Toby pulled out a watch from his pocket. It was a metal pocket watch, suspended by a steel chain. "The day ya' finished was the proudest day of his life." The group was shocked, why was he brining this up again, they had just got him out of depression! Then Toby continued. "But when he heard that you left. He said he couldn't be any prouder. And that you made the best choice." Ray felt his heart rise. Even though his decision got them killed, his father felt pride for him. "He had this made, as a gift for when you returned." Toby said as he handed over the watch. Ray Inspected it with a keen eye, he opened it and saw the inscription on the inside. "Ray the Reckless." He spoke aloud. "Keep Roaming." A while ago he was on the verge of tears, and now his dam broke. He took Toby in a crushing hug, holding him so tight that he thought that he might never let go. "If those crates won't break ma back, you will!" He laughed out. Ray took a step back and stared at Toby. "Thank you." He said. "Just don't wait so many years ago for your next visit. And drink one on yer old man will ya." He said as he pointed to the crate of mead. "Ah will!" Ray said as he picked it up. And they continued their walk to the airship.

When they were close, Hicca took the crate from Ray, saying that he had carried enough burdens today. She was just afraid that he might drop it when he saw the Typhon. They breached the tree line, and Ray had his back to the ship, talking furiously about good old times he had with Toby when he was a child. He had never talked much about his past, but the gates were open now. He was currently telling about the first time they went hunting. "So then I dropped the rifle and it fired, but it still hit the deer!" He said as he tried not to trip over the many roots in the forest ground. Hicca decided to cut him short. "Ray, notice anything different?" She asked. "About what?" Ray responded, still oblivious that he was about to be like a boy on Snoggletog morning. "About the ship." Sith answered for her. Ray turned around to inspect the ship, everything looked the same to him until he saw the front. Instead of the small scoped cannon that was used to be fixed on the spot, there the big, dual barreled gun of his dreams. "No way!" He yelled. He turned around to the group, making hand gestures and trying to say something, but he was speechless. "It's from that military cargo ship." Hicca said. "What do you think?" Ray had finally regained his ability to talk again. "I think it's like a beach." He said, earning him confused looks from his crewmates. "All it needs are some nice and beautiful shells!" This earned him a punch from Brynn. Sith', who had heard from Hicca that Brynn was indeed falling for the gunner then teased her with. "Wow, what happened. You were cuddling a moment ago." Creating a very red Brynn.

"Stop it guys. We need to eat." Hicca then added. "We leave in the evening, we got a linkup to get to." Sithera made a small fire on the edge of the cove, safely away from trees and dry materials, she roasted the meat till it was well cooked. Hicca was looking what route to take to the linkup location. While Ray and Brynn were talking about the new gun. When Sithera was done she brought everyone their meal. She ate with Hicca while overlooking the map, while also overlooking Ray and Brynn, who were eating together next to the gun, Brynn sitting in the seat and Ray sitting on top of the gun itself.

Hicca looked at her ship. She had the best fighters of the world, the best mechanic at her disposal, a master gunner and a her own personal spy. And not to mention the three friends that came with it and along with their dragons, they could take on anything.

**AN :**

**Well there it is! Another chapter. I probably wasn't too emotionally because I suck at that so yea...**

**Anyway I have a list of roles that I need for the next chapter. I have an A and a B to fill, and the best would be both of them.**

**A : Plane crew 2-3 persons**

**Pilot**

**Mechanic**

**Gunner**

**B : Submarine crew 3+ persons**

**Captain**

**Gunner(s)**

**Mechanic(s)**

**These will be part of Hicca's little force. I already have some on my eye from the OC's I've got so far. I hope you enjoy the story!**

**Take care everyone!**


	9. Chap 8 A Night off

**AN :**

**Hey everyone! Here comes another chapter! I hope everyone had been enjoying themselves so far. I honestly want to thank you all for supporting me on this story, even though it's not the regular story. I really like writing this story. **

**Anyway let's continue with the story.**

After a calm night of sleep for the four they made themselves ready for the linkup. Hicca was standing at the helm of the ship, ready to leave the small cove that they resigned in. Brynn was sharpening her swords, making sure that they would be in the best shape if they would be needed. Sithera was looking at the clear skies above, it was a good day for flying. Ray was busy with the Typhon, adjusting it to his liking. Feeling like a kid playing with a new toy. He couldn't wait for the linkup, it was one of the rare moment when they got the day or night off, and he could finally socialize with some male crewmembers. Given that most of the crew wasn't the typical female chatting over dresses and shoes, but it still helped.

"Cut the ties!" Hicca yelled from the helm. "We're leaving." Her crew moved like busy ants, cutting the ropes that grounded the ship loose, leaving the hanging from the trees and rocks that they were tied to. Once the ropes were loose and Hicca could feel the gentle movement of the ship now that it was loose. She flicked the lever, making the small machine that stood behind her fire up, pumping hot air into the big balloon that was suspended above the ship, making it ascend towards the sky. "On route, for traitors bay!" Hicca yelled.

The trip was calm and quiet. The dragons were happily snoozing away, bathing in the sun on the balloon. The crew was doing their regular things. Brynn was checking the machinery while Ray and Sithera wwere buisy spotting the skies. The linkup happened every so often, the exact date would be chosen at the end of the previous one. It was a meeting between the captains and commanders of three different parties, all operating together under Hicca's command. The first one to arrive were Hicca and her crew. They kept a keen eye out. Ready to stop the meeting by any sign of distress. But none came. After a while Sith' spotted a large dark shadow moving in the shallow waters of the bay. "Marc's here!" She yelled, and the crew quickly moved to the right side of the ship, looking at the waters of the bay. The shadow quickly became darker, losing it blue color and replacing it for a dark gray one. Then the surface of the water was ruptured by a small metal tower, the top parts of the two guns could be seen, before being swallowed by the waves of the sea again. On top of the metal tower a man rose from a hatch, looking around and spotting the airship. He climbed back into the opening and the rest of the submarine surfaced. Hicca turned to the helm again, steering the airship towards the bay, so that they could meet their partners.

Once their hovered just above the submarine, and had tossed the rope ladder down, they went to meet the other group. Ray and Brynn went down first, finding foothold on the still wet steel of the submarine. The hatch opened again. Revealing a tall man bald man with a goatee, wearing a captains hat. "Aye!" he yelled out. "Good to see you lads again!" "Hey Marcus." Ray called out. Eager to meet some more male members of their small fleet. "Good to see you guys made it!" "Where are the others?" Marcus asked. The conversation was cut short by the roaring of two heavy engines that pieced the sky. Brynn looked at the sky. "Speak of the devil!" She yelled in order to raise her voice over the engines. In the sky was a plane, leaving a thick black trail of smoke. Next to the plane flew a big Timberjack, looking at the tree line. The plane had a small howitzer fixed on the bottom of the fuselage. Which fired a shell towards the forest. The shell exploded before impact, leaving a big red flare, shining up the sky. The Timberjack immediately flew towards the flare, flying right above the ground, cutting the trees to little stumps. The plane followed soon and landed on the improvised runway.

The crew of the twin boom plane stepped out of the back, and hurried towards the beach. The crew of the submarine had all gathered on the airship by now and were also coming towards the beach. Once they arrived there they gathered everyone on the beach, while the different dragon played with each other. "Attention!" Hicca yelled, standing on a crate so that she could oversee the group of people. "As you know we are here for the linkup! I hope everyone is happy to see each other again." This gained a loud cheering from the crowd. "I want to start with thanking all the crews for coming. Pilot Ellia Revien and her loyal gunner Emilly Shadow!" Two girl in the crowd raised their hands, one of them had long brown hair, tied into a braid. The other one had blond hair and light blue eyes. The crowd cheered and yelled for them. Happy that they could make it. "Then comes the crew of the Tidebreaker!" Hicca continued. "The commander and navigator Marcus Longship." The man lifted his hat and bowed towards Hicca. "They woman at the wheel, Jane Jackson!" A woman with red hair tied in a ponytail raised her hand. "First gunner Dawn Fox." A man raised his rifle to the sky an let out a war cry. "Their mechanic Ketry." A brown haired girl raised her hand as she tried to calm down a big barking dog. "And of course my own crew." Hicca pointed to the three that had mixed themselves with the rest. "Now on behalf of your superiors I hereby grant you your freedom until next evening!" This really got everyone cheering. The whole crowd went wild. Most of these people didn't get to leave that often. Everybody was already planning wildly. Some suggested hunting on the island, or fishing, but in the end, everyone agreed to take the sub to the nearest town and to get wasted.

The submarine was quite crowded with everyone, except for the three in charge and some who decided not to go out, in there. Everyone agreed to leave their dragons and pets back at the isle. It would be safer that way. They reached freezing to death after half an hour, the submarine docked in the harbor of Freezing to death. All the people that were in it hurried off into the town, searching for pubs or local bars where they could get drunk. A small group decided to stay back in the sub, playing cards and talking, also keeping an eyes out for any trouble. The rest that went to the town divided themselves into two group one consisting off the girls and the other consisting of the two guys that were left. Both found their fair share of alcoholic beverages quite quickly, and discovered that the night went quick once they found those.

The girls that went to town, consisting of Brynn, Emilly and Jane, were calmly sitting at the bar of a local inn. Happily drinking away. "So," Emilly began. "how big are the chances that the boys get in trouble?" Jane snorted. "75 percent, definitely." She added. "They're both gunners right? Easily 90." Brynn said. Emilly decided that she had a good answer to her question. "So, what kind of trouble?" She asked. Brynn was the first one to say something this time. "A fight probably." she said. Afterwards Jane added "Definitely a fight." as they passed another round.

On the other side of town, the boys were currently drinking in a small pub. For them the night wasn't about drinking, it was about catching up. New guns, weapons, tactics, they discussed everything. Ray was telling him about the little collision they had with the Berkians. "That reminds me." Dawn began. "They've been asking around." "About Hicca?" Ray asked. "No, about you. They see you as their main lead for finding her." Dawn answered. Ray laid his head on the table with a heavy sigh. "Shit!" "Don't sweat it." Dawn began. "It's not like they can catch you or anything." "Still, it's reckless of me." Ray said with his head still finding support from the bar. Dawn chuckled "That is what you're known for." and took a sip from his mead. "I guess." Ray replied as he lifted his head from the table to join in on the mead. "And they won't even be able to recognize you right now." Dawn said. That was true, instead of his normal attire, Ray quite common clothes now. A regular pair of jeans and a shirt to top it off. He also left his bag with weaponry at the ship, only carrying his dagger. They both took another sip from their mead, the pub was quiet, some people left, some people entered, nothing exciting really. And in the corner of the pub, two collection of blond hair ducked away from the window, and rushed through the street, on the way to their one legged captain.

The females had quite a night, talking about the different things they encountered on their travels, like places, weapons, equipment and not to forget boys. It hadn't taken the other two long to discover that Brynn felt something for the gunner of the Skywhale, but they decided to let it slip. They enjoyed their another round of mead as they were enjoying their evening. Then Jane froze when she spotted someone on the other side of the pub, a blonde boy sat at a table together with a one handed man. "Eerm, girls." She said quietly. "Looks like Berks here too." "What?!" Brynn exclaimed quietly enough not to draw attention. "As long as we act calm everything will be okay." They quietly continued with their drinks, keeping a keen eye on the Berkians. They slowly started to relax again as two blonds walked into the bar, one male and one female. They rushed up to the table with the Berkians and said something that was inaudible for the girls, thanks to the noisiness of the bar. Jane was watching them closely and noticed that they had faces of shock and hope at the same time. Them must have found the others because afterwards they quickly stood up and left the bar, leaving some money on the table.

Ray and Dawn were just talking about Dawns new weapon, a heavy repeater that could fire single shots as well as a burst of 3, with extreme precision. "It's not as accurate as your rifle but it has a bit more firepower." Dawn was saying. "But the scope is often knocked back against my head." He added as he pointed to the scar above his eye. They discussed some more workings as Dawn suddenly froze. "Ray listen carefully." Rays was caught off guard by the sudden serious tone of his friend but decided to listen. "Take a long way and jump in the water, we'll pick you up with the sub." "Aye" He said, before looking behind him to see that a group of 3 Berkians, the male twin, the blond guy he spoke earlier and the other one that was scared shitless the first time they met, were blocking the main door of the pub. Dawn casually stood up and walked towards the Berkians. "May I pass?" He asked. "I do believe you want him." As he pointed to Ray. Snotloud and Aster took a step aside for the man to pass, and directly closed again when he left. Ray hopped of his chair and handed the barman a sack of gold coins. "That's for the beer." He said. Before the barman could give him his change he quickly added. "And the window." Before picking up a chair and tossing it straight through. he then turned to the shocked Berkians and said. "You will remember this day, as the day that you almost caught Ray the Reckless Roamer!" And jumping after the chair.

He landed with a roll and quickly started running. Remembering what Dawn had told him. When he looked behind him he saw the three Berkians pursuing him. The two blonds slowly closing the gap. He turned around the corner and headed into a alleyway, making sure that he took a longer route to get to the docks. He hadn't been to freezing to death often and he sure as hell didn't know the streets there. After some more twists and turns he found himself back at a small square, where a pub with a broken window stood at the corner. "Shit." He cursed as he took off into the direction of the harbor. He was halfway there when he was suddenly tackled by some blond girl. He lay face down on the ground, the girl grabbing his arm and holding it behind his back. "I got him!" The female twin yelled. And the other three soon caught up. They tied his hands firmly behind his back. He was pulled off the ground by Aster and Tuffnut, who checked him for weapons and only found his dagger. Content with the fact that he couldn't reach it, as it was on his chest and his hands were behind his back, they let him keep it. Aster looked him in the eyes and said. "We'll remember this day as the day that Ray the Reckless Roamer almost escaped." And started their march towards their airship, keeping a keen eye on their new prisoner.

By this time dawn had gathered everyone and made them rendezvous at the submarine. They sailed out towards the sea and stopped a few miles away, lying a few meter under the sea, Brynn actively scanning through the periscope. "Where is he?" She asked aloud, but no response came. She handed the periscope to Dawn, who didn't scan the port but scanned the skydocks instead. There he noticed the Berkians ship, and it was leaving. "Jane, 20 North, 15 Knots, in pursuit of airship flying Berkian colors." Dawn barked out. "Aye aye!" Came the response from Jane, quickly turning the silence in the sub to the sound of mechanical power. Dawn continued to peek through the periscope. "Good, Good." He said. "Okay now switch to 12 knots." Jane did so again and they were now sailing with the identical speed of the airship. "What now?" Asked Brynn. "Now we wait for Ray."

On the Squid, which was flying on a low altitude above the water, Gobber was happily observing their latest catch. The man was standing in front of him, being held in place by Tuffnut and Ruffnut. "What do you want?" Ray asked. "Well, Reckless." Gobber began. "Why don't ya tell us 'bout Hicca." "Okay, she's a girl, ran away from home and is currently sailing the sky." This sarcastic answer earned him a punch in his stomach from Aster. Making Ray sink on his knees. "Well, he has her sarcasm." Tuffnut noted. "Tell us or we'll give you worse than a punch." Gobber threatened. "I fought this was a tickle fight." Ray added, before receiving another punch. "Aster stop, We have a better plan." The twins said as they dragged Ray back and hung him over the side of the ship. "Where is she!" Tuffnut yelled. "Or you'll be swimming." Ray scanned the surface of the sea, and noticed an all too familiar metal tube breaking it. "Okay, okay, I'll tell you." He said. The twin threw him back onto the deck. He slowly got onto his feet and was herded to the side of the ship were the docking plank would usually go, the only part without railing. "Speak now." Gobber said. Ray was looking at the water, making sure he wouldn't jump on top of the submarine, since that would certainly break his legs. Gobber noticed him scanning the sea and said. "Water can be as hard as steel you know." "I know, but I still prefer it above steel." Ray answered as he slowly moved towards the edge. "Dude, think about this, you'll drown." Aster said. "Let's hope not." Ray said as he took the last step towards the edge, he was now standing on the very metal rim of the deck. Still scanning the surface of the sea, but then he saw it. the dark shade of the submarine. "It was a pleasure again gentlemen." He began. "But my ride has arrived." He took a leap and made himself as long as possible, he felt the wind fly by him and then came the cold of the seas.

The Berkians were looking from the deck. "Throw a rope, we need him." Gobber yelled. The group quickly threw some ropes towards the Ray when they saw that he had resurfaced, trying their best to get him to take a hold of them. Then a few meters from him, a metal tower rose from the water. Followed by the entire body of the submarine, on which ray now lay. Next to him, the top part of the submarine broke open, revealing the cargo hold. Ray quickly got up and jumped in there. And as quickly as it opened, it closed. As went for the submarine itself. As quickly as it had appeared, it had disappeared, lowering itself underneath the seas surface. The Berkians were flabbergasted. They stood there is silence. Processing what just happened. A good 15 minutes after the sub left Gobber broke the silence. "Action stations lads." He said softly. "Let's head back to Berk."

**AN :**

**So here it is again! Another chapter done. I also want to say something to all of you who are planning on or currently writing youself. DON'T WATCH NETFLIX OR ANY VIDEOS! Music is okay I noticed, but the first half of this chapter took me 3 hours, and I was watching Breaking Bad. (started 3 days ago, I'm on season, so yea, its bad.) I also watched silence of the lambs. (Awesome movie, not really scary but just so awesome.) The rest of the chapter I finished in half an hour. Without Netflix.**

**Anyway now that I made that little point, I'd like to ask something.**

**I have a general idea of where I would like to go with the story. But if you have any fun or interesting ideas please do tell. Also please review, it can be positive it can be negative. Any feedback is good feedback, because it will help me improve my writing.**

**For all the people who's OC's I used I want to say thank you! If your OC is not in the story, I'm so sorry, He/she/it might make it in on a later part but we'll have to see. Also if you have any back stories or extra information about them please tell me. If I got something wrong please do tell too. I had to make a separate word file where I listed all the names of the OC's just to be able to write this. It can be quite messing with your head with so many new characters at once.**

**Also I added an option to the next story poll. Go check that out!**

**Anyway, so far for one of the longest AN I've ever done. If you have OC's please send them in. If you have feedback please do tell. If you have something else to say. I would be very interested. **

**Take care Everyone**

**R4y**


	10. Chap 9 The beauty of alcohol

The submarine was filled with laughter and cheers, knowing that an airship wouldn't have sonar equipment, they regulated the silence rule loosely. Dawn had retired from his spot at the periscope as Jane sailed them towards Traitors bay. While Dawn was making his way towards the front of the vessel, where the cargo hold was located, he was pulled aside by a not so happy member. "Where is he?" Brynn asked with anger dripping off her words. "Don't worry Brynn, he's safe and sound." Dawn responded calmly in hopes of calming the angry mechanic. "Where. Is. He." Brynn repeated, already striking a small bit of fear in the belly of Dawn. "He's in the cargo hold. You're going to check if he's wounded?" He said while pointing down the corridor to the cargo holds door. "Oh, he'll be wounded alright." Brynn said as she hurried off towards the hold. Dawn used a little too much time to register the threat and quickly sprinted after her. But the thick steel airlock was slammed in his face. "Brynn!" He yelled knocking on the door. "Open up!" But no response came.

Ray was laying in the cargo hold, eyes closed, resting from the jump he just made. He had done a fair bit of crazy things in his life, but this one took the top. Jumping from an airship into the freezing sea, only to be saved by a submarine. Today was one hell of a day. And he got off fairly well, his hands were starting to hurt by the rope that was around his wrists and he bruised his leg when jumping into the hold of the sub, but besides that everything went fairly well, he still had his pride, his life and his dagger, which was still strapped to his chest, unfortunately out of his reach. He opened his eyes to look around the cargo hold. It was filled with crates of different kind, some were food others were ammunition, a torpedo was suspended by some kind of pulley system that hung from the ceiling. He closed his eyes again when he felt the throbbing of his leg.

His attention then focused on the sound, besides the gentile and light mechanical buzz of the sub there was muffled yelling and a large slam. Like a door being shut, a heavy steel door that is, but that's not unusual for a submarine. He listened as he heard footsteps from what he thought was some kind of airlock, since once the second door opened a small hiss was heard, indicating some difference in pressure. He then heard clearer footsteps, coming his way. They sounded heavy, like thick leather boots. "Hey Dawn." He said with his eyes still close. "Quite an entrance, no?" Since he got no response he decided to open his eyes, only to meet the lovely face of his crewmate, and she looked pissed. "Hey," He began, but she was quicker, she pulled him up from the ground and slammed him into one of the crates, before pulling out his knife and pinning his shirt to the crate. "Brynn." Ray finished, feeling his leg very evident now.

"You piece of," Brynn began ranting at the gunner. "You could have died you absolute" And she accompanied her reasoning with a colorful rainbow of curses. "And not to forget the fact that" Ray stood there, careful to not lean on his bad leg, but also to not show that he was wounded, since he would seriously be in trouble then. Brynn continued to throw curses and harsh words at the gunner, shunning him for his reckless behavior. After a while she slowly started to calm down.

She then looked at Ray, standing there in dirty and wet clothes, sheepishly smiling, in the hopes of calming her. Maybe it was the light, maybe it was the alcohol, but he looked, nice. She had always tried not to get her hopes up too high, since Ray didn't like the idea of relations with crewmembers, pleading that it would distract both parties into not doing their jobs perfectly. But right now? Right now he couldn't do anything, he was trapped. Like a dog on a leash, a grounded dragon. Right now he had nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.

his gentle smile disappeared into a face of misunderstanding and fear as she walked up to him. He reacted like any trapped animal would, panic. He started to squirm and struggle, trying his best to get loose. He pushed and pulled agains the flat side of the blade, slowly wiggling it out of the wood. But his attempt at escape was proven futile when Brynn took a strong hold of the knife, keeping it in place.

"Brynn calm down, think about this." he began in his feared state, she just took a step closer and was now leaning against the crates that he was pinned to. Ray turned his head, expecting more shouting or maybe even some punches, the last thought reminded him of the ones he received on the ship of the Berkians, which he still felt clearly. Brynn had other plans though, she moved her head to his ear, so that he could feel her breathing in his neck, she was maybe a few centimeters away from him, and then she said. "Looks like you're trapped." Ray felt all hope of coming out of this relatively unhurt leave his body. "You've done some stupid things tonight, didn't you?" She asked with a soft and calm voice. Fear made way for confusion as she pulled back from his ear, he now looked her in the eyes and noticed something that he could never have hoped for. In her dark eyes he noticed multiple things, one of which was worry, the other one being anger, but hidden behind furious look in her eyes, he noticed another emotion, lust.

"What? No stupid deals now?" She asked as she got closer once again. "No dumb jokes?" she added as she slowly closed the gap. And then, when she was just centimeters removed from his face she added. "Speechless." before finally letting their lips meet. At first Ray was paralyzed, he must have hit his head really hard on his way down here to be imagining this, but as soon as he felt a tongue trying to pry his lips apart he returned to reality. And for once, he really liked reality. He opened his mouth to let their tongues meet, and started a battle of dominance. Which Brynn was clearly winning.

Unbeknownst to them, the airlock door opened and Dawn and Emilly rushed into the hold, weapons in hand, only to be standing there like two grinning fools, looking at their friends. Brynn and Ray didn't notice them until Dawn cleared his throat. "Everything alright here?" He asked with a huge grin on his face, turning both crewmembers of the Skywhale, who were panting heavily, red. "Yea, just fine." Brynn replied as she pulled the knife out of the box, making the dazed Ray fall to the ground, face first, before sticking it back in the box and leaving the room with a big smile. Emilly rushed after her, hoping to hear the details of what happened while they were trying to open the shut airlock.

Dawn rushed to Ray's side, and turned him around so that he was facing the ceiling. "Hey" He said as he lightly slapped the gunner. "Wake up." One eye slowly opened and the other one followed shortly after. "How are you feeling?" He asked as he moved back to pull the knife out of the box. "Amazing." Ray responded dreamingly. Dawn pulled his arms just from his back and cut the ropes that were bound around his wrists, before helping him up. Ray groaned loudly upon standing again. "And now?" Dawn asked with a grin on his face. "Like shit." Came the response from Ray. "That's more like it, let's get some food." Dawn said as he guided his friend through the airlock.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

The bay was calm, the three leaders were calmly sitting around a campfire that they had made, eating the last pieces of meat from the deer that they caught. "They should be back any minute now." Marcus said. "Yea, as long as nothing went wrong." Ellia quickly added and threw a quick glance around the group. "Yea, and what are the odds of that." Hicca sarcastically added, earning laughter from the group. They passed a drink around and tended to the fire as they noticed that the submarine was slowly sailing into the bay. "Wow," Hicca began. "maybe nothing went wrong." "I wouldn't put my money on it." Marcus said as the submarine approached further and further. Since it was tide was in the water was high enough for the submarine to dock near a small rock formation, now functioning as a formidable dock. Slowly the members of their little force streamed out of the submarine and made their way to the beach to hear the news of the discussion. Once everyone was around Hicca stood up one of the logs again. "Attention everyone." She yelled, silencing the crowd. "I hope you all had a nice evening." This caused every single person to look at Ray, Hicca shook her head. "I'm sure I'll hear about that soon." She said. before continuing. "We have discussed our needs and made a plan, a plan for something almost everyone likes. Tomorrow night, we will be having a joined operation, a raid on the military port of Hemel!" This earned a loud cheer from everyone. "Now, go to your bunks and hammocks and rest, tomorrow will be briefing and training!" She added, and everyone slowly began to walk towards their respective craft.

What she was left with was just her own crew. "Now, I'd like to know what happened tonight." She said sternly, looking at Ray, who had gotten himself some spare clothes from the members of the Tidebreaker. "Well, Dawn said that the Berkians have been asking around 'bout me." Ray began. "And we kind off bumped into them later that evening." Hiccup found her hand striking her face once again. "What happened?" She asked with a sigh. "We were sitting in a bar, just drinking and talking." Ray began. "Then the Berkians blocked the door. Dawn went back to warn the others and I fled, they eventually caught me and we left Freezin' with their airship, me as a prisoner. I then saw the periscope of a submarine, jumped into the water, the lads opened the cargo hatch and I jumped in." Hicca had listened with great admiration. "That's one daring escape." She said. "Good job." She looked at Sithera and gestured that she could go to the airship. When she left she turned back to her two remaining crew "Did anything else happen?" She then asked with a grin on her face. "No, not that we know off." They both replied. "You do know it's better for me to hear it from you guys then from rumors right?" She asked as she crossed her arms. "Well," Brynn began. "I might have taken advantage of the situation." Hicca looked at both of them for a second. "She kissed you first?" She then asked. "Yes, she did." Ray responded. Hicca threw her hands in the air. "Sithera owes me a gold one!" She yelled

They walked to the ship in silence, Ray and Brynn in disbelief that they actually had a bet going on, and Hicca overjoyed, not because she won the bet, but because those two finally got together.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

The sun was rising from the seas as the beach had already filled with the men and woman form their little army. Hicca was standing next to a crate this time, while Marcus stood on top of it. "Listen everyone!" He yelled. "We have planned this yesterday and I will be explaining it to you all." He began as he had a map of the area. "This is how we'll do it! The first attack will be by plane. You need to hit the coastal guns, that your priority, you'll be out of reach from the anti air. Then the sub comes in from a distance, we'll hit any ships that are docked, which shouldn't be many and hit the anti air with the mercury. Afterwards, we dock and set up a defencive perimeter at the harbor, where we will wait for the goods, Hicca will drop her crew in the storage and they will bring us the target. We are going for a few things, numbered on priority. One, 2 crates of Typhon rounds. Two, 4 Seashark torpedo's. Three, a crate of gun grease. If you find anything that might be important that grab it, if you think we can use it ask for it first. Is that clear?"

Different kinds of confirmations arose from the group, indicating that it was well understood. The group then slowly dispersed into small packs, some having duels to train, others having contests, and others just discussing strategies. Tomorrow would be a big day.

**AN:**

**Sorry for the later chapter, I had this finished a while now but wanted to add the attack into the chapter but kept changing things about it. I hope you all can forgive me.**

**I'm getting myself a new pc so I should be able to write a lot more and better in the short future. I don't know when this will all be done. **

**I hope you enjoyed! And take care!**

**R4y **


	11. Chap 10 The raid

**AN:**

**Hey guys, sorry for the delay, I had a busy week, but I have a new pc and word so I hope I'll be able to write a lot more. Here's the next chapter.**

It was calm on the base. Most of the soldiers had sailed out early in the morning, leaving only a handful of soldiers stationed until reinforcements would arrive later the evening. Most of them were on edge, hanging around the guns in order to defend the base if anything would happen. Some more had been assigned to the storehouse and there was a small ironclad docked at the port. Which had just docked there. A small group of soldiers was playing cards on the dock. But the tension reached its pinnacle when the silence that roamed the base was overtaken by light buzzing.

All the soldiers stopped their doings and searched for the source of the sound. It was a cloudy day and rain would probably soon be upon them. The sound was gentle and far away from the looks of it. But everyone was on edge, they had 2 anti-aircraft guns, but those were only effective against airships, which was the most likely aircraft to attack.

Up in the sky, above the clouds, the sound of the engines was a lot louder. Inside the plane the two crewmembers were busily communicating in order to make the attack as precise as possible. "Altitude, three-seventy. We're two mikes out. Ready for drop." Ellia yelled to her gunner, who was peering through the scope of the small howitzer. "Nothing but clouds!" Emmily yelled back. "I'm ready." "Dropping now." Ellia yelled as she pushed her steering column down to drop the nose of the aircraft towards the ground. She could see the clouds engulfing the aircraft as it pierced the thick layer of clouds that hung in the sky. "Got a visual!" Emmily said. "I see 2 coastal guns, one big flak and one of those things with the four barrels." "Aim for the coastal ones" Ellia ordered, and she soon heard the howitzer fire. Thanks to the speed of the shell, being fired in a downward angle, the projectile created a screeching whistle in the air, before hitting the big coastal gun on the barrel, bending it.

"First one's out!" Emmily yelled. "Going for seconds." She fired a second shell, aiming for the other gun, also disabling this one. "Mark the flak for the sub." Ellia ordered as she continued to fly the plane. Emmily quickly opened the hatch at the back of the gun, taking the hot shell out with a thick leather glove, before replacing it by a new copper one with a bright red tip. She peered through the scope and quickly spotted the flak, which was also capable of lowering its barrel to attack vessels. She squeezed the trigger of her gun and a flare was fired towards the gun, leaving a large cloud of red illuminated smoke on impact.

Out in the seas, the Tidebreaker surfaces, from the hatch came Marcus. Dawn had been dropped on the other side of the island to infiltrate the base before the attack so he would have to fire the gun. He stepped behind the small mercury field gun that was mounted on the front of the gun, quickly zeroing in on the flak, which was trying to spot the aircraft which just destroyed the coastal guns. He fired a shot, a grim view played out in front of him as the shot hit the back of the gun, blowing limbs of the operators and metal of the gun, leaving it inoperable. He stepped away from the gun only to see the ironclad moving its guns towards the sub. He quickly sprinted back to the hatch. Entering the sub. "Pitch minus twenty degrees! 4 Knots! Dive! Dive! Dive!" He yelled out. His crew immediately working the machines in order to send the submarine below the surface. They disappeared just in time for the shots of the ironclad to miss. "Load tube two." He yelled through the system op pipes that was used for communication. And he soon heard Ketry's response. "Tube two loaded and ready Sir!"

He raised the periscope to see if the ironclad had moved, but it was still docked, and he could see that the crew were hastily trying to undock the ship so that it could manoeuvre away from the danger. "Jane, 6 degrees portside." He said, and Jane quickly turned the ship's nose towards the ironclad. Marcus moved to the sets of pipes again, putting his mouth to the torpedo room one and barking out "Fire tube two!" As swooshing noise was heard through the submarine as the tube was filled with water and the compressed air powered torpedo left the confinements of its tube. "Out and away!" came a response from Ketry. Marcus peered through the periscope again, and could the see the clear line of bubbles heading straight towards the Ironclad, the crew started to panic, using swords to cut through ropes and coils and ultimately jumping overboard. Moments before impact Marcus closed his eyes, not keen on seeing the damage done to the ship and mankind. When he opened his eyes again the ironclad was nothing more than a large smoking piece of scrap metal.

Now that the base was clear of large treats the submarine moved in, rising from the water and approaching the docks. Their objective was to take the base by force, disabling the last anti-aircraft turret and securing the base to gather the supplies. When they docked, and left the submarine they were quickly met with the last anti-aircraft gun, they had lowered the four barrels and had opened fire upon the 3 crewmembers, pinning them down. "Dawn and Ray better be here quickly!" Jane yelled out.

"May the Valkyries welcome you," A shot rang through the air. Alerting the man shooting the anti-aircraft gun to a new threat. He looked to his right and noticed that one of his comrades had fallen down, a hole in his throat, and a thick red liquid seeping out of it. "and lead you through Odin's great battlefield." Three consecutive shots are heard, one ricocheting off metatal and the other two finding their target in the chest of a soldier. "May they sing your names with love and fury," Another shot pierced the air. This time hitting the man operating the turning mechanism of the turret between the eyes. "so that we may hear it rise from the depths of Valhalla." Again, three shots, downing a soldiers and his unsuspecting friend behind him. "And know that you've all taken your rightful place at the table of warriors." Another shot was fired, hitting the man firing the anti-aircraft weapon, leaving a fine red mist that painted the insides of the metal shielding of the gun. "For great men have fallen today:" Dawn said as he stood up, still scanning the surroundings through his scope. "warriors, brothers, fathers, and sons." Ray finished the rites as he also raised from his position. Taking a quick glance over to the docks, where the rest of the submarines crew now left their cover.

The two of them hurried over to them content with the now cleared out base. "Think there are any left?" Dawn yelled to the group as they rendezvoused at the submarine. "Maybe a few in the warehouse." Marcus replied, "You and Jane check that out." He added as he pointed to Dawn. "I'll signal Hicca." He pulled out a large handgun, with a thick and broad barrel, aiming it at the sky and firing. A loud whistle was heard and a bright light filled the sky. "Now we prepare!" Marcus barked out as he turned to his crew. The large doors from the warehouse swung open and out came three men. The two of their crew and a soldier, holding his hands on the back of his head. "We actually got a smart one." Dawn said as he kept the gun pointed at the soldiers back. "This one surrendered, too bad his friend didn't." He said as he pointed to the bloody stains on Janes uniform.

"It can't be sunny every day." Marcus said as he took the prisoner from dawn, guiding him to a metal fence and tying his hands to it behind his back. At this point the airship arrived, carrying now only the rest of Hicca's crew, but also Ellia and Emmily. The hovered the airship at an empty dock just above the water. And everyone excited. Hicca was wearing her full suit again, including the mask, and started barking out orders. "Marcus, take Ray, Ellia and Brynn and get what we need." The four quickly hurried towards the warehouse. "Dawn get high and keep on lookout, reinforcements might be on their way." "Aye!" Dawn responded and quickly made his way to the water tower, a classic. "Jane, open the hatch, and Ketry, you get on the crane." She moved her hands to her mouth in order to be able to yell louder. "I want to be out of here in half an hour!"

Now that she was done and everyone had their orders she moved to the prisoner. Who was apparently frightened by her because he started to squirm and tried to get loose. "Calm down, I'm not a demon." She barked at him, shocking the man into silence. He was a young lad, probably just finished his first year at the navy. "Why did you surrender?" Hicca asked. "W-we w-were outn-numbered." He answered stuttering. "Smart move, what did your partner do?" She responded. "A-attacked the w-woman." He didn't dare to say girl since the one interrogating him was also female. "Yea, that's a shame." She then replied. Hicca crouched down so that she was on the same level as the tied up soldier. She put a hand on his shoulder. "Quit while you can lad, you're too smart for this." And then she left him. "Who are you?" The man then yelled, growing a bit more comfterble with his strange captor. Hicca stopped, inspecting Ray and Ellia as they pushed a cart with torpedos over the tracks towards the docks. She then turned around to the man and replied. "Who am I? If I told you that you wouldn't believe me. Now use that brain of yours and be quiet!" She snapped at the man, hating herself for acting so hostile, but time had taught her that fear was a very good way of keeping people of your back.

Dawn and Marcus were moving the last cart over to the docks. Ray came up to her. "What now capt'n?" He asked. "Rig the warehouse, I want it to take one shot." She said and Ray hurried off to the storage building. Ellia came quickly after, Hicca had first wanted to ask her to blow the last gun, but she had seen the mess when they flew in, and decided against it. "Keep an eye out here." She said to Ellia, I'll blow the last gun.

With Hicca disabling the last gun and the rest either on watch or loading the submarine, everything went smoothly. It wasn't before long that they heard Dawn shout out. "Reinforcements!" The last crates were quickly loaded into the hold and the doors were shut. Everyone returned to the craft that they arrived with. The submarine left first, sailing backwards with Dawn on the front gun, firing warning shots at the reinforcements. Ray had hopped on the Typhon and turned it to aim at the storage, he fired the two shots at the building and a large explosion could be heard, the building still stood, but fire escaped through the windows and it didn't take long for the construction to collapse on itself. The vessels turned and headed for traitor's bay again, a relatively short distance.

Hicca was standing at the wheel, looking at the stormy clouds behind her. She saw Ellia and Brynn walking towards her. "That went well don't you think?" She asked the two, getting a positive response from the both of them. "But," Ellia began "there is one thing we need to still work out." "Berks hunt for Ray." Brynn added. "He's the one that always goes into villages and cities, and now Berk will be upon us in no time, he's not really a quiet guy." Hicca was thinking and an evil smile soon appeared on her face. She took her helmet off and looked at the two. "What do you do when a Terror want's your fish?" She asked them. Ellia responding with "You hide the fish?" "No," Hicca answered, before looking at Ray, who was buisily explaining the ins and outs of the new Typhon to Emmily.

"You put an eel with the fish." She said, earning devious grins from both her friends.

**AN:**

**So there it is, have any idea what the super secret swiggety swooty plan is? Mwhahaha, I do! Anyway, thanks for reading my story and thanks for reviewing it, also a big thanks to everyone who send OC's! I love you all! You can still do so, I'll probably expand their fleet even more in the course of the entire story.**


	12. Chap 11 A visitor

"No, I won't do it." Ray was leaning against the Typhon as he shook his head, polishing one of his dark brown boots. "I won't throw myself into a pit of wolves." The wind was quietly flowing around the airship. Hicca stood in front of him and sighed. "Please, we need to get them off your back." She pleaded. They had said goodbye to the rest of their fleet and were now moving north. Hicca had abandoned her post to convince the gunner to join their plan. "Intimidation has worked until now." Ray defended while throwing his hands in the air. "Can't we try that instead of handing me over to the enemy?" Brynn was moving crates around and quickly added a small point to the conversation. "It'll be more realistic if we do this without his consent." "Not helping!" Hicca responded before turning back to Ray with a grin. "But true." "Aren't you supposed to be supporting your boyfriend?" Ray asked Brynn, who thought about it for a second before shrugging and replying with. "Nah, you'd do the same. Oh, we could also use Shriek!" "Oh, for Thor's sake," He then noticed his dragon lying over the exhaust vent. "Blitz, you're on my side aren't you Girl?" The female Skrill stood up and walked over to her rider. Friendly, but strongly, nudging him towards the railing. "Looks like she already tries to throw you off." Brynn said laughing.

"Fine, I'll do it." Ray said defeated. "But I do it my way." Hicca looked at him confused. "I'll need my gear, rifle, satchel, the entire bunch." Hicca cocked an eyebrow. "I won't kill them, I promise that. But if they start punching me again I might hurt one, slightly." The last word sounding more like reassurance to himself than to Hicca. "When did you want to do this?" Ray asked, but regretted it when he saw the grin on Hicca's face.

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The airship sailed sadly into the docks, tattered and worn, with a molten piece of steel on the place where the engine used to be. Previous times the entire village would be waiting for the return of the search party, but after a few times only a handful of visitors welcome the crew back. The young adults threw coils of ropes to the men on the ground, who quickly tied the ship to the docks. The gangplanks was put down and one by one the crew walked off the ship to be met by their family. Fishlegs was met by his little sister and his mother, his father was probably working. The twins were visited by their parents, even though they were two troublesome kids, they had a happy family. Snotloud was greeted by his father, and the two shared a friendly, but manly mind you, hug. Aster walked up to his Mother, who was standing next to the chief. Gobber was right behind her. "Hey mom." He said with a plain expression. "Well hello dear." His mother responded as she laid her hand on his shoulder. "Nothing?" "Nothing." Aster replied sadly. "Well, that's not 'tirely true." Gobber said. Creating a slither of hope insides the heart of the chief. "We might 'ave a lead. Bu' it's a tricky one."

"What kind of lead Gobber?" Stoick asked, interested to this lead that they might have. "Ya' know 'bout 'The Gunner', right?" Gobber said with a smile on his face. "From what we know he's protecting her." "How can you tell?" The chief asked. "Told us to 'ack off, rides a dragon, shows admiration when we talked 'bout her, like respect." Gobber answered. "But then 'is capt'n blew the engine, so we 'ere forced to go back." "Right, we'll have it replaced, you can probably fly out in a week." An engineer said, having heard the story. "Good, Aster, can you go hunting for supper?" Gobber asked. "Yes, Sir." Aster replied.

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Fishlegs was walking through the forests of Berk, carefully picking spices and mushrooms that he couldn't get anywhere else. He was the ships cook after all, and he made sure to do his job well. He stuffed his basked full with brown mushrooms and winterberries, hoping to make a nice meal tonight, since Aster and Gobber would probably return with a deer or two. He would get some honey from the beekeeper at the end of town, and he would make his famed honeyed meat. Much to the delight of his crewmates. He was at the edge of the forest, it was lighter here, and near the cliffs the foliage became less thick, so more small plants could grow. He picked some lavender and stuffed it in his bag, before entering an opening.

The clearing was beautiful, tall grass grew everywhere and in the middle of the opening stood a large oak tree. Underneath which would probably grow some good mushrooms. But he froze when he heard an engine, it wasn't loud, but not soft either. He peeked around the tree towards the seas to see a large finned airship coming their way. He grabbed the spyglass from his bag to spot the ship. He read "The Skywhale." on the front of the ship, so it was probably the name. When he went to check the deck his view was blocked by the large dual barrelled front gun of the ship. He waited for the ship to turn, hoping to get a good look at the crew. He felt something in the pit of his stomach, he had seen the ship before. Was it also docked at Hopeless? Maybe at Freezing? No? He had seen it in battle. It was boarding, or was it being boarded. The army. The Mule. The gunner. It all flew through his mind at once, the dots finally connected. This was the ship of the gunner.

He peeked out from his hiding place again, noticing that the ship was now floating just above the cliffs, its deck a few meters higher than the field. He grabbed his spyglass again and glanced at the ship, now fully seeing the crew. The was a hooded figure standing with his or her back to him, then there was the captain, the one who rode the Nightfury, standing at the wheel, barking to someone. He followed her masked gaze and found the remaining two crewmembers, one holding a sword at the chin of the other, who stood on the edge of the ship, wearing a large trench coat. He kept silent, hoping to hear anything from their conversation. He was slowly able to pick some things up from the talk, words like: traitor, useless, should have known and liability. Liability, was that because they were searching for him? He peeked through his spyglass again, to see that the brown-haired crewmember had sheathed her swords and took a big step towards the gunner, only to kick him straight in his stomach, sending him falling to the field below. Fishlegs flinched as he landed, imagining the pain that would cause. He looked back to the ship, to see them grabbing a halberd and a rifle, together with a satchel and throwing this after him. The two weapons landing on either sides of him and the satchel landing on top of him.

He could hear the gunner grunting in pain, and then the grunting was overtaken by the roaring of the engines. And the ship left. Fishlegs sat frozen behind the tree, he peeked out now and then, making sure the ship left. Once it disappeared into the clouds he ran, ran as fast as he could, back to Berk. He ran towards the tree line and once he reached it he quickly looked back towards the gunner, which was now slowly pulling himself from the ground, one hand on his head. He froze again, maybe if he didn't move he wouldn't find him. He looked as the gunner again, who was now slowly looking around. At first he looked right past him, but he then turned back to him and squinted his eyes in order to get a clear view of him. "Hey!" He yelled, slowly shaking of his dazed state that the fall left him in.

"Hey you." He yelled again. Fishlegs decided that he had been around long enough and ran again. He hurried into the treeline, not ever looking back and hurried off to Berk. In his panicked state he tripped over some roots, slipped on some mossy piece of wood and eventually fell down a small hill, but at the end he reached berk relatively unharmed.

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Aster was sneaking through the forest, stealthily moving through the foliage in order to not scare any animals. He was looking for a deer or a boar. Those would fit fine for supper. He found himself next to an old damaged tree. The tree was shattered in two and had moss growing over it. He knew this place, a few years ago there was a large open trench leading down the hill, like a rock has slid down it. He followed the used to be gully and eventually found himself at a cove. He knew this place, it wasn't uncommon for animals to drink here. He slowly inched his way to the wall, carefully peeking over it to check if there were any animals there, there was. A large deer stood at the edge of the lake, happily drinking away the fresh water. He slowly pulled his hunting rifle from his back, and put it in front of him, carefully peering through the iron sights on top. He would kill for a proper scope, and a good book on how to use it, but he was still saving for it. He moved his finger to the trigger, still keeping his aim on the unsuspecting dear. He held his breath and "Aster!" came a loud yell from the forest. The deer perched his head and scattered a second later. Running too fast for Aster to get a shot off. "Godsdammit." He muttered. "Aster?" Another voice came, he stood up and headed towards the origin of the sound, finding the entire crew, including Gobber looking for him. "What the fuck guys? I almost had supper for us!" Aster exclaimed, angry that they scared his prey away. "Forget the deer Aster, were hunting gunner today." The twin yelled, before banging their heads together. "Gunner?" Aster asked confused. "Aye," Gobber began. "'Legs noticed that our dear friend had a little dispute with his capt'n and he was kicked off" "Literally." Fishlegs added. "Aye, literally, from the ship. Right on our island." Gobber finished. Asters anger quickly faded into joy and then back into anger. "Let's hunt!" He said.

The group quickly took off, slowly stalking through the forest. The twins in the lead, followed by Snotloud and Gobber, Aster and Fishlegs were last. "So how are we going to do this? Snotloud asked, slightly unnerved by the thought that they are hunting a skilled sniper. "He's a sniper, he'll look for high ground." Tuffnut answered." "Duh!" His sister added. "Actually, snipers don't prefer high ground, it an obvious position and easy to spot." Fishlegs argued. "So then where would he hide 'Legs?" Snotloud asked. "He'll probably find a place where we can only easily come from one end, giving him a good view, he'll also want to set up diffirent firing positions. Good snipers never take two shots from the same position." Fishlegs replied. "What about Ferrors Tooth?" Aster asked. "What about it?" Ruffnut replied. "Well," Aster began. "it's a peninsula, so we can only come from one end, it has a clearing in front of the between the two tree lines, so we'll be out in the open." "If he knows it exists, he'll head there." Fishlegs answered. "I think it's our best shot." "Wait," Snotloud suddently stopped walking. "How are we even going to capture a sniper without weapons? Sure we have our weapons, but we don't have guns." "Aster had a rifle." Fishlegs argued. "And Gobber has a revolver."

"Yea, what will an un-scoped rifle and a revolver do against a trained marksman?" Snotloud asked. Gobber sighed, knowing that Snotloud, miraculously, was right. "We'll have to use tactics." He said. "Keen and clever tactics."

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Ray had arrived at the peninsula, he heard from Hicca that they called it Ferrows Tooth, but they'd be bound to nickname it sniper hill after this. He had drawn the entire peninsula in his book, adding possible point of entry and noting the different firing positions that he had set up. There was a small ditch crossing the woods, through which he could easily move from position to position unseen. He had a total of four places ready to use, the first, and most right one, consisting of a fallen log behind which he could hide. The second one was a small hole inside which he could find shelter. The third and fourth were both trees that had low branches of which he could fire his rifle. He sat down in the trench, and pulled back the bolt of his rifle. "One in the chamber," He muttered to himself before looking in his satchel. "ten in the bag." He then broke his revolver open to check the revolving magazine. "Four and a quickloader." The quickloader being a small magnetic round with 6 bullets, with which he could very quickly reload his revolver.

He stood up and walked to his second position. He took his rangefinder and scanned the woods, now all he could do was wait.

It didn't take long for the first search party to arrive. He quickly recognized them as the crew of the Berkians ship. They were with six, moving slowly in a group through the open part before the forest.

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Everyone was on edge, scared of the fact that a skilled sniper probably already saw them. That idea was confirmed when they saw a flash from the woods, and a bullet hitting a fallen log, making them all dive for cover. "So much for the quiet approach!" Yelled Fishlegs. Ruffnut was standing a few meter further, hiding in a small ditch with her brother. "I say we just run for it! He can't hit all of us!" She yelled before jumping out of her hole, only to be met by a bullet at her feet. Making her jump back down in the hole. "Okay, not so much."

"Think we can roll this log?" Aster asked Gobber. "Ah' think so." Gobber replied before pushing against the big oak log that they used as cover. Together they moved their cover a few meters from the edge of the forest. Gobber tried to make a run for a tree but was also greeted with a bullet hitting the tree in front of him.

"He'd trying to scare us off, he's playing defensively." He yelled to his crew. Who were scattered through the peninsula by now. "Aster come here!" He yelled, spotting the glint of a scope in the hills. "I have a plan."

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Ray had just moved to the fourth position, mixing up the order to throw his enemy off. He laid his rifle down on one of the branches and quickly found the log where the peg leg and blond guy where hiding. The sun was slightly in his scope, which could give away his position. He saw the big fellow stand and prepared to fire another warning shot at him, he fired at his feet. But the man didn't even flinch. He pulled out his revolver, like a dying general trying to save his troops and opened fire at his position. Having only a small tree as cover Ray quickly hit the dirt. Rolling behind a bigger tree to avoid the bullets. After tree shot he quickly jumped into the ditch, Gobber still shooting at his previous position. He counted carefully, and when he hit six he knew that he would have to reload, having just arrived at position tree, he quickly scoped onto the man and fired a shot that went straight past his head. This time he did duck for cover. Ray pulled his bolt back and quickly put a new bullet in, before chambering it by shoving the bolt back into the rifle. He scanned the log again, seeing the head of the older man, but not spotting the younger man, realization soon dawned on him that he had been diverted. "Shit." He said as he walked back into his trench, heading to position two. He quickly jumped into the hole, now also frequently checking behind and besides him. He scoped back at the man to notice that he had moved up a few trees, slowly closing the gap. The crew that was still in the field also became more daring, peeking above their cover to see if they could advance.

He held his breath, hoping to his the fat guy in his satchel or something, enough to show him that he could hit him if he wanted. He could also try to hit his prosthetic arm. He took aim and slowed his breath, focussing on the small bald head that peeked around the tree from time to time, but his concentration was broken when he heard a twig snap besides him.

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Aster had successfully closed the gap when Gobber opened fire, and had hid behind a large rock besides the gunner's positions. When he laid down to take another shot he quickly closed the last few meters, stealthily, to not alert the gunman. Only to step on a dry twig on the last meter. Alerting his targer. His head spun around and the barrel of the gun quickly moved his way. Aster acted on instinct and kicked the barrel as hard as he could, sending it flying away. The gunner rolled away from him, he grabbed in his satchel and pulled out his revolver. Only to be met with the barrel of Asters hunting rifle. They looked at each other, Aster with his finger on the trigger and Ray with his along the length of the gun. They just stared at each other, waiting for the other one to make a move. After a few second Gobber reached their position, also aiming his gun for the man lying on the floor. Ray slowly raised his hands, showing them that he surrendered. Gobber took his revolver from him, which he quickly emptied in his hand. Ray was looking at him, anger on his face, he had actually hoped to negotiate with them. But it looked like interrogation were more likely.

He turned his head back to Aster, and for a brief second he wasn't looking at the barrel of the gun but at the stock, coming straight at him, before everything went black.

**AN:**

**Hey guys! First of all, Happy Christmas! Both for those who have already celebrated it and for those who still need to. I hope you are still enjoying the story. I sure am.**

**Also, in case I don't upload before then, Happy new year! I hope it's going to be amazing for every single one of you! **

**Take care,**

**R4y**


	13. Chapter 12 Smooth sailing

The rain was relentless, it had been raining the whole night already and it didn't seem like it was going to stop soon. Gobber was standing outside the smithy, sheltered from the rain by the small wooden shutters which were open. He peered through the downfall, seeing a silhouette approaching him through the rain. "Gobber!" The man yelled. "Is he awake?" "Aye Stoick." The blacksmith yelled back. "And he's not a talker." The chief closed in on his friend, joining him underneath the small shelter. "Has he said anything useful?" Stoick asked his friend. "Anything about Hicca?" Gobber shook his head. "He hasn't denied that he knows her." The smith explained. "But he doesn't talk about it." "No." Stoick said sternly. "He knows something. I can feel it."

Gobber opened the door of the smithy, revealing a young man, sitting on a wooden chair, his hands tied in front of him. He looked at the two big men with one eye, the other one being swollen and thick. He had a bruised chin and he had seen better days. Stoick walked towards him and grabbed a chair for himself. There a small bit of dried blood at the side of his mouth. He sat down in front of the man and looked him straight in the eyes. The silence was terrifying. "So," Stoick began. "do you know my daughter?" Ray stifled a laugh, making him wince from the blows he had gotten to his chest, but didn't respond. "You better answer the man my lad." Gobber added, breaking the silence between the two. "I've seen him do things I wouldn't wish for my worst enemy." Ray glanced to Gobber, before turning back to Stoick. "You won't find her mate." He said, a chuckle escaping his throat.

Stoick, not being someone for patience or subtle approaches, immediately swung his arm, hitting their captive in the face. "That wasn't the question." He said softly, in a voice that could kill. Ray slowly moved his head back to Stoick. ""My apologies, I have a better answer." He said, before inhaling and spitting onto Stoick's boots, a thick, wet, red piece of saliva now resting on the nose of his shoes. Stoick stood up, ready to beat the young man to a pulp, but Gobber stopped him. "We can't get blood from a stone Stoick." He said as he tried to keep the raging man from range of their captive. "Just let me handle this." Stoick calmed down, realizing that this was their only lead to Hicca. "Fine." He said as he walked to the door of the smithy. "Teach him some manners while you're at it." He stepped out of the smithy and swung the door close with a loud thud, making the old building shudder.

Gobber sat down on the chair that Stoick had placed down in front of Ray. He sighed loudly, the brief clash with his friend was quite exhausting, for Stoick was a strong man. He looked at Ray, who had a grin plastered on his damaged face. "We know you know her." Gobber began calmly. "We want what's best for her." "Is that what you want?" Ray asked. "Or what he wants?" "He just wants his daughter back." Gobber sighed. "I want what's best for her." "There's the difference." Ray said fondly, a small smile creeping up on his face. "I got a proposition." Gobber looked at the young man, he kept quiet, indicating that he should continue. "I give you a chance to see Hicca." He began. "And you set me free." Gobber looked at him dumbstruck, shocked by the calm and polite way the lad spoke, especially after the way they had treated him. "And how would you propose we do this?" Gobber asked silently.

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Sithera was casually walking through the village, if casual meant sneaking through shadows and climbing on rooftops that is. She had a very simple task: Head to the beach, fire the flare, wait for the ship. Hicca met an old friend, Thuggory, a captain that they had guided through thick mist. He had also taken to the pirate life and traversed the sea with his small destroyed. Hicca had explained the predicament and he had agreed to participate in an extraction from one of Berks rocky beaches. Since time wasn't clear, they had agreed on firing a flare to mark the exact location. They would launch a powerful harpoon for the two to tie to a small rowboat that they would drop there the night before. A second flare would be shot to indicate that they had secured the rope and they were ready for reeling it in.

Sithera was still going through the village, Hicca has asked her to do another thing while she was there, so naturally, she obliged. She was tasked with going to her old room, to grab a small box that should be somewhere near her desk, if her room was still the same at least. She gently picked the lock on the door to the Chiefs house and stepped inside, Thanks to the rain, her clothes were wet and dripping on the floor, marking her presence. She quickly walked towards the stairs, and silently climbed them. She had spotted the chief walking to the forge, so she probably had a few minutes. Upstairs she was met with more doors, she walked to the one that was Hicca's room and turned the doorknob. It budged, indicating that the door was locked. She grabbed the lock picks again and set to work on the door, quickly moving the pins to the right positions to let the cylinder rotate. She opened the door and stepped into the room, finding it exactly like Hicca described it, only with a thick layer of dust on top of everything. She hurried to the desk and quickly found the little locked box that Hicca had described, made from wood and steel, and probably harder to open than half the doors in this village. She stuffed the box in her satchel and moved back to the stairs, only to hear the front door of the house open.

Stoick was dripping wet, so it didn't surprise him that the ground underneath him was too, what did surprise him was the fact that the stairs and the floor towards them were. He followed the path of drops up the stairs where they turned left and headed into Hicca's bedroom. He was shocked, who would have the guts to enter his daughter's bedroom? His mind began to think about the possible suspects. Then it hit him, the gunner, it was too easy, it was a distraction. He stormed into the room, only to find the window open, he rushed to it, hoping to find the one who did this, but finding nothing. He glanced through the village, only to hear a heavy yell coming from the blacksmith, barely audible above the sound of the rain. And to see a young man running away from the building.

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Sithera waited quietly at the beach, after escaping through the window she had quickly fled the village and headed to the extraction point. She then saw Ray running towards her and quickly grabbed the flare gun. The flare screeched in the night sky, and emitted a red, chemical glow in the night sky. "What took you so long?" She asked as she shielded her eyes from the strong light of the flare. "I stopped to grab my gear." Ray said, breathing raspy and heavily. Out in the dark sea, a small flash was visible, and a large metal rod suddenly struck the beach with immense force. Sithera untied the rope from it while Ray flipped the small dingy that laid on the beach over. She hurried over to him with the thick rope, quickly securing it to the front of the boat. Angry yells and shouts were now heard from deeper in the island. "I though you would get them off you're back?" She asked as she tied the knot. "I knew I forgot something." Ray said back as he pushed the dingy into the water.

"Done!" Sithera yelled as she tossed Ray the satchel, they both jumped into the boat and Ray fired the second flare. Just as the Berkians arrived on the beach and opened fire. Sithera and Ray ducked down, hiding inside the wooden boat. Suddenly, they were both pushed towards the back of the dingy by the force of it being pulled back. Sithera looked back to see the beach moving away from the very quickly. "How fast is this thing?" She asked surprised. "Too fast." Ray answered as he pointed to the nose of the boat, which was slowly tearing apart.

They reached the destroyer very quickly, but the dingy didn't survive it. They were pulled out of the water by Thuggory's crew and were guided to the bridge, where Thuggory had already ordered for the movement to calmer waters, where they would meet with Hicca.

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The return was happy, Brynn was glad to see her boyfriend alive, but was more than a bit angry at how he looked. And had given was giving him a stern lecturing about how to act during interrogations. Hicca had received the box from Sithera and had put it down in the quarters. She was now talking with Thuggory, thanking him for his help. "Really, I can't stress this enough, thank you Thug'." She said as she shook his hand. "Is there anything I can do for you?" "Well, I do miss the days of the navy." Thuggory began as he rubbed the back of his head. "I heard you have a small fleet?" "It would be an honour to have you, Thug." She said as she extended her hand again, this time to sign an agreement. "Aye aye, Captain." He said, "Aye aye."

**AN: **

**So, here it is, a little shorter this time. I'm currently quite busy with school but I'm aiming for updating at least once a week again. **

**An artist by the name of Adaliss made a fanart of my fanfiction, it's kinda like fanception. It's also the cover for the story! :D**

**The art can be found at Adaliss' deviantart page, it's called 'Take to the Skies'. You can find it by going to and smacking /art/Take-to-the-Skies-505405427 at the end of the URL. **

**I hope everyone is still enjoying the story, I can still take OCs, especially now that I have a new craft to fill. And I can also take other OCs. Like merchants, rivals, good guys, bad guys, maybe even dragons or some stuff like that. If I like it, I'll try to add it.**

**Stay sharp!**

**R4y**


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